RiD: Steeljaw's Redemption - AU
by Taismo-89
Summary: I love Steely, and I'm surely not the only one. This AU was written with the help of my new writing buddy Aili-chan, and will bring up some very dear characters from TF Prime, along with some headcanons and some Steven Universe inspiration. Transformers RiD and all its characters belong to Hasbro and CN. Comment if you like it, pleaaase? (Sorry, the story's on hiatus for now.)
1. The Fault in our Scars - Part 1

A few weeks passed since Optimus, Windblade and Ratchet left from Earth with the Alchemor, taking with them most of the Decepticons and Fixit's Mini-con family. It were one of those times when the team was relaxed.

Grimlock and Sideswipe were watching TV with Russell. Strongarm practiced shooting with her Decepticon Hunter. Drift was meditating along with his students. Denny was with Fixit trying to figure what to bring to their new improved base.

Bumblebee however was looking up to the sky, lost in his thoughts. Now that the Alchemor has left, would there be even need to be an Earth Base at all?

"Everything okay, Bee?" Denny asked.

"I'm not sure." he said. "We did put every criminal in the Alchemor in stasis, and our pods are always checked twice, but…"

"Don't forget there are one or two Cons still around. But I understand. Things have been calm… even for our level."

"Well, even with this calm… I can't stop but to have this feeling that something is coming. Something really bad."

* * *

Meanwhile, in a small ship that landed right on the lake, the mentioned threat was preparing something.

"I do not have words to thank you for freeing us from stasis." Steeljaw approached him, his legs free and fixed.

"You may thank me once we get rid of the Autobots." He said, his raspy voice sure of their success. "They really think remaining on Earth will save them from us? So gullible..."

"The Autobots are a big nuisance to our plans. Since you have been here before me, you may know exactly what I mean."

"Oh, yes, I do, Steeljaw… better than you may think." the mysterious Bot's red optics narrowed.

* * *

Right about that time, a message was received by the command center. Everyone stop their activities and came closer.

"It's a call from Ratchet."

"Put him on the screen." Bumblebee ordered.

"Hello, Bumblebee. I have to be quick. We are not currently in Cybertron. Things have been pretty bad for all of us." The medic bot didn't wasted time. "An old enemy is arriving on Earth, and he took some of the Alchemor's prisoners with him."

"What?!"

"This happened awhile ago, actually. But only now we have found the opportunity to warn you. The attack was fast and direct. We could barely make it."

"So much for peace and calm..." Sideswipe pointed out. "But is Windy okay?"

"We are ALL okay, thank you very much." Ratchet answered. "Optimus is however worried something may happen to you or any of your team members. He believes in your leader capacity, but he knows as well how you, or better saying, all of Team Prime, suffered because of him."

"Who is it, Ratchet?"

Right then, the connection started cutting out, and the image disappeared, but not before it showed something entering the room, Ratchet were.

"We lost contact!" Fixit tried reestablishing without success.

"Ugh. Typical." Russell pointed out. "This kind of thing always happens to superheroes."

"Alright team, we have our mission. We may not know who our enemy may be, but if this army he's bringing is from the Cons we have once faced, we may have a chance to win."

"No kidding. We kicked their sorry skidplates many times. This is gonna be so easy." Sideswipe said .

"OH YEAH!" Grimlock said, hitting his fits together. "Time for a big welcome beatdown!"

"I captured a signal on the lake. Curiously, right where once the Alchemor was." Fixit thought. "It's like somehow this enemy knew we were around."

"Then, as Grim said, we will give them a welcome beatdown. Autobots, let's rev up and roll out!" And so the team departed, ready to face whatever enemies were waiting for them.

* * *

Team Bee was still on the way to their coordinates, while Fixit informed any new that was coming.

"Anything new, Fixit?" Bumblebee asked.

"Not yet, sir. The communications with Cybertron have been erupted-corrupted-disrupted!" Fixit said, glitching. "I tried finding the problem in our own devices, but they are working properly."

"Remember, Ratchet said they weren't on Cybertron. What could have happened that would make them keep distance?" Strongarm wondered.

"Keep trying, Fixit." Bumblebee stated. "The sooner we know who we are dealing with, the sooner we can get ready."

Soon the team arrived to the lake. Luckily, Denny and Russell gave them a boat to get them near the ship. It wasn't big as the Alchemor was, but still pretty intimidating.

"Okay, we need a well-planned strategy. We do not know how many Cons are we dealing wit-" Drift tried to make up a plan, but Grimlock stepped forward.

"Okay, Decepticons! You come out with your hands in the air! Or claws, or whatever you got!" He said. Bee sighed and facepalm.

"And the impatience spoke louder." Strongarm pointed out. Then out of nowhere they heard a very familiar laugh. At least to Bee, it was familiar.

"The cycles pass… but you Autobots never change..." Bumblebee's optics widened hearing that voice.

"No...It can't be..."

Right then the ship revealed itself and the door of the ship in front of them opened, and out of the dark inside...

"Starscream!?" Bee was shocked to see, from all the possible threats, HIM.

* * *

"Well, what do we have here? The bumbling scout and a team of little losers." the flying con mocked.

"How is that possible? Last time I heard from you, you were attacked by Predaking and your own Predacon clones." Bee pointed out.

"Oh… I am so glad you asked." Starscream showed clear delight. "I've been waiting to tell this story..."

 _It's true the Predacons have caused me quite a hard time in Dark Mount, but I have found myself a way to annihilate them, get them off my pedes._

"They chased you off, right?"

"They're gone!" Starscream growled. "Anyway..."

 _"This leads me to my primary chase at the moment. I have found a hidden lab in Dark Mount, where there were seven peculiar Mini-Cons in experimentation tubes, unlike many I've ever seen._

 _Megatron's records said that they were captured in their youth, and genetically modified. Able to connect with Bots AND Cons, they provided a "power surge" to their hosts, and further, take control of their multi-functions._

 _Megatron's theory said that if all seven combined into a single host, they would provide a power beyond even one of a Prime."_

"However, they escaped once I freed them. Those clever little toasters." He stepped aside, and Steeljaw approached him. The team looked angrily at him while they prepared their weapons.

"Tell me if it isn't a destiny thing… just the Bot I wanted so long to rip apart."

"I should have guessed you were here too."

"I have promoted an attack at the Alchemor, and freed some comrades to fulfill my duty." Starscream ordered. "Along with the allies I have made, we will find these Power Surge Mini-cons, and nothing will stand in our way."

Immediately an army of cons appeared, ready to attack, although they weren't so many as they expected.

"Okay, this might be a bit more complicated than I thought..." Sideswipe commented.

"Why don't you just shut your mouth?" Strongarm argued. It seemed like every single time he pointed that, he attracted problems.

As they attacked with the weapons provided by Starscream, Steeljaw prefered fighting with his bare claws against Bee. the two of them pulled out a good fight, while the team struggled to remain in a defensive position.

Drift called for his mini-cons, who attacked the best they could, before being thrown overboard.

"Anyone saw what was that?" The youngest Mini-Con commented. The attack was so fast he barely saw what hit them.

"They just don't stop coming!" Grimlock used his brute strength to keep the Cons from coming.

"Their fire power is too big! Lieutenant, we can't hold on much longer!" Strongarm said, before she was thrown into the lake.

"Strongarm!" Grimlock rushed to help her.

"We must retreat, now!" Drift informed. Bumblebee didn't want to leave. He didn't want let Starscream get away, neither Steeljaw, but the bounty hunter was right. Soon as Grimlock and Strongarm were on the boat, Bumblebee and the team retreated immediately.

The cons cheered for their won of the battle, but Steeljaw looked over to Starscream.

"We have won the battle, but they will return." Steeljaw was more than ready to follow them.

"We are more than capable of taking them down, Steeljaw. You will not be seeing a stasis pod so soon." Starscream assured. Steeljaw looked over to him.

* * *

"That was THE Starscream? He looks nothing like the images in my database" Fixit said, as he analyzed the images, and the team recovered from the humiliating lost battle.

"But now that he's here, the entire planet is in danger," Drift noted. "We saw among the cons he freed precisely old enemies we know well. And those allies he called seemed like bounty hunters."

"And they have more firepower than before. Starscream was one of Megatron's fierce warriors." Strongarm pointed out.

"And a coward in his own right." Bee added. "He was powerful, but always hid behind someone bigger than him! Like any Con do..." Bumblebee's hatred was visible. "He has a lot of nerve coming back here after what he pulled. I should have guess someone like him would be so persistent!"

Grimlock and Drift were the first ones to think… that Bee's aggressivity against Cons was higher than usual. Strongarm and Sideswipe also started to look worried.

"Sir, we are all upset, but don't you think it's not exactly a good time for venting?"

"It's just the truth, Strongarm! We have to get him, and make him pay for his crimes. Once a Decepticon, ALWAYS a Decepticon!"

"Is that what you think?!" Grimlock's voice intruded the chat, making Bee turn around in surprise. "That all Decepticons are the same?! Even those that became Autobots?!"

"Uh, I guess he didn't said that, Grim..." Russell tried defending Bumblebee, but it was useless. Grimlock started walking away.

"Grim, wait! I didn't meant that… I was just..." Bumblebee tried to explain himself.

"I think you were very clear to me." Grim was stern as never before, his stare leaving Bee shocked. Drift looked at him while and left too.

"Sir… you really think like that?" Strongarm asked. "Y-you always told me that every bot deserves a chance..." The cadet was disappointed.

"I was just… I mean..."

"Man, that was bad… even for me." Sideswipe said before he and Strongarm left, leaving Bumblebee alone to regret what he said. Denny, Russell and Fixit just stared, not knowing what to say.

* * *

Meanwhile, Steeljaw walked by the ship's hallways with Starscream.

"Not meaning to disrespect you, Starscream, but the way you referred to the called Power Surge Mini-Cons is in my view a most inappropriate one."

"Don't be a Knock Out. Ugh, it just boils my processor to remember this name as well..." The flying Seeker commented.

"I'm just saying… Mini-Cons are beings like we all are. Where I lived… there were many packs of them… most lived in Luna-1, sure, but-"

"You have spoke enough." Starscream signalized him to stop. "I do not care about this past things… the future is what matters now." After this, he noticed the Wolficon looked over to his weapon. "Now… tell me more about these… Decepticon Hunters."

Steeljaw agreed silently, feeling suddenly, that they didn't had that much in common anymore.

* * *

Back to the scrapyard, a ship was seen by Fixit. Russell and Denny, who were concentrated on the worried Bumblebee, looked over to see the arrival. As the tractor beam brought down a familiar face, the three knew they had to warn their leader.

"Lieutenant?" fixit called him out of his thoughts "I guess someone's here to see you."

Right behind him stood who were inside that ship: Optimus Prime.

* * *

The three observed as Optimus and Bee talked. Lubricant slid from Bee's optics, as he confessed what he did. There was no way for him to hide how spark broken he was.

"Oh, Optimus… what have I done?" Bee lamented. "I never meant to hurt Grim, o-or Drift. They are different from Starscream, they..." Optimus made him a signal to stop.

"You really believe ALL Decepticons can never have a change of spark and find out how wrong they were?" Optimus asked.

"...no." Optimus smiled, and lift up his face, wiping gently his tears.

"I do understand your frustration, and your reasons. All of our team during the war had this same feeling of hatred due to the war we were living."

"I know..." Bee held the Prime's hand.

"But remember what I always told you… especially before sacrificing myself for the sake of the future generations."

"Every sentient being has the right of change..." Bumblebee said out loud, remembering the words Optimus had told him and the others many times. The Prime smiled. "How could I forget?"

"Sometimes anger not just blind us, but also makes us forget. I know from experience… when I thought we lost you forever."

"Oh, father..." Bee leaned his head over the Prime's chest. "I don't know what else I can do… what if they never believe me again?"

"Father?" The two of them looked over to their "audience".

"But didn't you told me father means..." Fixit wondered.

"Fixit… you still don't know all about Earth customs." Russell said, with a chuckle. "Especially a thing called adoption."

"I would be lying if I told you Optimus was only a leader to me. He and the team gave me a home when I most needed." Bee admitted, rubbing his helm. "They were my family… he was my father… even though we rarely called each other like that. They really adopted me."

"The pressure of the war made these opportunities rare. However, never we showed uncaring for each other. We were a family… and no matter what, we will always be." Optimus pointed out. "And so will your team."

"Optimus is right. We're still here, Bumblebee." Russell tapped his leg. "And they won't be mad at you forever."

"You just need to tell them how you feel and apologize." Denny said. "It's really easy."

"If only one was hurt maybe… but I hurt EVERYONE." Bee shows his doubt.

"The team is not available in any com-device. They apparently have turned off their own aud-aud-aud-aud-audios!" Fixit pointed out.

"Then I guess I'm on my own this time." Bumblebee stated before started to leave, while Denny, Russell and Fixit looked after him.

"You are not intending to-"

"I need to find out what Starscream truly intends to do." Bee said. "I'll try not to cause more trouble than I already have. If I don't come back… tell the team I'm sorry."

They all watched as Bee left. He didn't even said he needed them alert in case he needed support… as if he decided he had to solve this on his own now. Optimus however knew this would not end well.

* * *

In the nightfall, Bumblebee sneak quietly to the lake. This time, he tried an alternative route, entering the ship through the other way around.

"I'm risking myself entering by my own… but won't be able to face my team after what I did. not now." He spoke with himself, before hiding quickly as he saw Overload and Kickback by the hallway.

"That weapon is huge. What you think it would do to Earth?" The grasshopper-like Con said, while petting his recent acquisition: the brown unicorn plush he needed so much.

"Knowing Starscream from war, he will keep us away from spoilers. He is the kind that prefers a plot twist that truly surprise the audience."

"I don't get it." Kickback commented, and Bee took while they were leaving to keep going forward. However, he didn't knew something was following him.

Bumblebee saw many cons reunited in a hallway, and then saw Starscream and Steeljaw walking forward.

"Fellow cons, our triumphs day has finally arrived! For much long I have dreamed of leading our glorious kind to the position they deserved!" the flying Con vangloriated. "We have in our hands a device that will serve well to our objective towards this planet!"

"A world of Cons, where we can wonder in peace without having all… taken away from us." Steeljaw proclaimed

Bumblebee heard his words and noticed the hesitation. 'Taken away?'

"The Earth is just our first stop, young Wolficon!" Starscream chuckled evilly. "But before we can have Earth, we must destroy the wall in our way… Autobots like Lieutenant Bumblebee!"

Then, Bee was attacked from behind and pushed forward by Groundpounder. He looked up to see a legion of cons staring at him.

"I doubted he would be so foolish of coming here on his own, without Optimus Prime to save him." Steeljaw pointed out. Bee was then grabbed by his arms by Overload, as his Decepticon Hunter was grabbed by Starscream.

"By the way, thank you for bringing me the power I needed. At least one more is needed to find the Power Surge Mini-Cons and destroy this worthless planet!"

"What?" Steeljaw looked at the Seeker. "Starscream, what are you saying? The Autobots can't harm us here, for they love this planet as much as we do!" With this, the seeker started to laugh.

"You really meant that, didn't you? You are honestly the only Con who cares for this worthless Earth!"

"What?" Steeljaw's optics widened.

"I don't love this planet. I want it and all its meddling life to die!" Starscream glared. "If it vanishes, no Bot will miss it."

"But… I thought you would-" Bee observed as Steeljaw looked terrified, and all the others joined Starscream's side, one of them pushing Steeljaw aside.

"Silence! You know nothing, Steeljaw!" Starscream looked at him. "I honestly cannot understand what of so fascinating you see in this pile of dust!" Then he looked at the Decepticon Hunters in his servos. "With these in my hands, I will track and extract all the Dark Energon I can get from Earth's undergrounds, and after they help me track my precius Mini-cons, i will have power to destroy this planet!"

"No..." Steeljaw gasped.

"What's the matter, Steeljaw? Things did not went according to your plan?" Starscream laughed maniacally. Bee looked at Steeljaw's horrified face: he sure was NOT expecting that.

The Wolficon couldn't contain his anger. He charged against Starscream, but the Seeker aimed both Decepticon Hunters' beams, throwing him against a wall. Steeljaw was put to his knees, holding his chest in pain.

"Away with them both! " Starscream smiled truinfently. "But gently, my comrades, gently… I have plans for these two..."

Bumblebee stated at the shocked Steeljaw, as they were being taken away by Thunderhoof. The wolficon breathed deeply, his optics locked in a shocked stare. Bee didn't even had words to reply.

 _To be continued..._


	2. The Fault in our Scars - Part 2

**Previously in Transformers: Robots in Disguise…**

" _I have this feeling that something is coming. Something really bad."_

" _It's a call from Ratchet."_

" _An old enemy is arriving on Earth, and he took some of the Alchemor's prisoners with him."_

" _Starscream?!"_

" _Is that what you think?! That all Decepticons are the same?! Even those that became Autobots?!"_

" _I do understand your frustration, and your reasons."_

" _Every sentient being has the right of change."_

" _Fellow cons, our triumphs day has finally arrived! For much long I have dreamed of leading our glorious kind to the position they deserved!"_

" _I don't love this planet. I want it and all its meddling life to die!"_

" _Away with them both! But gently, my comrades, gently…"_

* * *

The Autobot lieutenant and the Wolficon were both discarded in the same cell. Steeljaw looked at Thunderhoof. Just the Con he trusted the most… was the one throwing him away.

"Thunderhoof, please… can't you see? This could be the chance of having something they can't steal from us!" He looked at Bumblebee.

"Just like ya did! Ya stole ma freedom, even though ya said we hed it!"

"I was just-"

"Dis planet has nothin' to any Con." the moosecon was direct. "Ah will be glad in gettin rid of ya and returnin to Cybertron. Heck, even more glad to forget ya ever exist'd."

Bumblebee stared a while after Thunderhoof left, the Wolficon whined, his claws sliding down the energy barrier. Never Bee thought he would feel bad for Steeljaw… but for some reason, he DID.

* * *

Strongarm and the team were driving back to the scrapyard.

"I don't think coming back now is a good idea. He might yell at us again." Sideswipe pointed out.

"Look, I know Lt. Bumblebee was rather harsh, but honestly, you don't think he would really think this of all Decepticons, right?"

"Well, he did seemed clear." Grimlock pouted. "I don't think I wanna speak with him yet."

"The distraught of seeing Starscream and losing in such a humiliating way might have pulled out of Bumblebee the worst of him." Drift pointed out. "Strongarm do have a good point, despite both of us feeling betrayed and disappointed."

"Yes, Grim. He would never say something to hurt us like that." Strongarm assured. "He's our leader, our friend… we're a family."

"Precisely." Optimus's voice was heard. They looked forward to seen him standing in front of them. "And I fear Bumblebee might need your help more than everything."

* * *

Back in the ship, Bumblebee walked around while Steeljaw looked over to outside.

"We have to get out of here. But all around us is well blended."

"Even if we do get out, we'll be caught." The Woflcion assured. "Starscream's allies are all over the ship. They carry weapons even I haven't seen before."

"And I assume you helped them get those, right?"

"Starscream possibly has been out longer than me. I had NOTHING to do with this."

Bee wished he could reply to that, but… he have caused enough problems assuming things that way.

"I… I gotta try to call my team." He pointed out. "If we will be destroyed… at least I gotta tell them I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Steeljaw noticed. "I assume you and your "perfect team" had an… argument?"

"I don't wanna speak of this." Bee looked away.

"Well… what use would it be?" Steeljaw sighed. "This is where my path leaded me after all this time… not to a stasis pod… but to find it's true that no matter how hard I try, everything I fight so hard to get… simply fades away over and over again."

Bee noticed the leaking coming from Steeljaw's optics. He never thought he would see him like that… or even if he was able to. The wolficon looked away, not wanting to show that.

* * *

Starscream contemplated his Decepticon Hunters.

"So, according to Steeljaw, three of those can provide enormous power. All I need is one more to prove this to be true." Then, he looked over to the nocturnal horizon. "And I have the feeling I will be getting this soon..."

In fact, Optimus was precisely leading the team after Starscream's ship location.

"You're on the right track, sir." fixit pointed out. "Keep driving to this direction."

"So, you were saying that… what Lt. Bumblebee did to us… the way he reacted… was related to his voice box problem?" Strongarm pointed out.

"It was more than just a problem, cadet..." Optimus admitted.

"It was a betrayal." Bumblebee explained to Steeljaw, touching his own neck. "Megatron was the one that injured me, but he only found me because among all of us was a traitor. A Decepticon traitor."

"This situation scarred Bumblebee very deeply. The best effort left after his injury was provided by Ratchet, but while we investigated who was the traitor among us..." Optimus continued.

"He took the chance to cause more damage among us Autobots. When we found him, it was far too late. We were weakened… and my scars only grew bigger..."

"Big enough to provide that lifelong hatred you witnessed on the scrapyard."

"And that's why I have to call the team… they didn't deserved seeing that. I'll never be able to move on if I don't apologize to them."

"Please, understand, you all. Strongarm is right. Bumblebee was out of his element for a moment, but he is still your leader and your friend." Optimus pointed out.

"And now, he needs us." Strongarm agreed, and the team accelerated, not knowing the optics that watched them as they arrived.

* * *

Bumblebee sighed, as he sat down on their cell. Steeljaw's optics were wide in surprise.

"That's why I came all by myself… after what I did and said… I'm sure that I failed as a team leader." He sighed. "If I can at least apologize for that… I may be able to face what will happen to both of us."

"...I had no idea..." Steeljaw muttered.

"Wow… I feel better… It's like I took a pile of scrap out of my chest." Bee admitted.

"Good for you." Steeljaw pouted. "I can only think about my failure… and how this beautiful planet will pay the price for my foolishness."

Bee looked at the Wolficon. At that point, he didn't felt all that anger from before, or from any of their past confrontations. He just felt… he needed to know about him. Like he never wanted before, or even worried to ask.

"...I know it's not of my business… but why the Earth?"

"This planet is unique. It holds all kinds of life forms here. It reminds me of my home… or at least, what I used to called home." Steeljaw confessed, with plain sincerity, picking up a hologram projector from his arm, and showing Bee an holographic picture of cybertron, zooming in to one of its moons. "Luna 4… a lair of cybertronians with animal resemblance, Minicons, Wolficons, beings like those..."

 _I was just a young Wolficon, learning to use its abilities. I lived with my own pack. My family._

 _As rough as I trained, I never really got a chance of fighting, unlike my brother and his friends. And then… the Great War came._

 _We trusted an Autobot, and. he promised us all to keep our moon safe, to avoid any confrontations… but it was a fatal mistake. He stabbed us all in the back, bringing within nano-clicks armies that caused the most dire of massacres._

 _I could make it… but nothing was left. Only the painful sound of silence and my own sorrow._

Bee touched Steeljaw's shoulder, as he looked over, struggling to not leak. An useless effort however, as a bit of lubricant escaped his golden optics.

"When it was heard that Cybertron's life was restored and we could go back, I came with my spark filled of hope… only to have it all shattered, and find Luna-4 still covered in the ashes of the war.

 _The cycles passed as I tried to move on without a bit of success. Last thing I knew, I was with this symbol, assembling rebellions with comrades that wanted as well a place where we could live without fear… without pain_.

When the Alchemor crashed and I came to know the planet, I made up my mind that if I ruled this place, if I leaded a new group of brothers and sisters to venture among this beauty, we wouldn't suffer anymore..."

"So you really wanted to live here peacefully, despite all battles we've been through…" Bee remembered the same words his cadet told him about the Wolficon. "But if you really meant it, there were other planets you could lead Cons to without having to do all those things we've seen."

"But not like this one." Steeljaw sighed. "This planet would be a home that no Bot could take away from us… for they care about it and all its life."

"You're right." Bee sighed. "We care about the Earth… but we also care about our own kind. We care about all Cybertronians. I'm sure if you told them, you-"

"You think any of them would be willing to hear anyone with THIS symbol?" Steeljaw pointed out to his clawed insignia. Bee nodded, understanding clearly now the situation.

"Well… How do you feel now?" Bee smiled to him.

"...Unusually… relieved." Steeljaw was surprised. He felt better… as if never before. Thanks to that Autobot. They both stared at each other, finding an uncommon, yes blissful sense of compassion and care. In such dire times… they have somehow found friendship.

Then, they heard the sound of battling nearby. What was happening? Then there was someone trying to break the walls. It first took a while, until something big and green came through it.

"Grimlock?!" Both of them said.

"No time! Come on!" He punched the control buttons on the wall, deactivating the energy cell. "We need your help, Bee!"

"We?" Bee asked. As he followed Grimlock out of there, Steeljaw stayed behind, observing them. Then, he looked over to his claws and to his symbol.

* * *

Bee and Grimlock came others who were still fighting.

"What took you so long?" Sideswipe joked while handling one Insecticon. "Now we kinda need a leader."

Bee nodded, agreeing and went to help them. Thunderhoof stomped firmly, leaving Drift unable to stand much time.

"Ey-yo, not bad in standin' yer ground, but Fracture told me yer gig."

"Then it's good that I learned new 'gigs'." Drift said and send Jetstorm and Slipstream to distract him, in which he managed to go help others.

Grimlock took on some other cons, before Groundpounder pushed him down. The Dinobot grabbed him by his arm and throw him at the other cons.

"Strike! The crowd goes wild!"

Sideswipe knocked out another con, before being tackled by Kickback.

"We got him! Right, Bob?"

"No you didn't." Strongarm said and aimed behind him, throwing him at a wall with her shooting. Sideswipe stood up before Kickback could recover and knock him out as well, making him let go of the brown unicorn plushie.

Optimus and Bee faced the other cons, but they could notice these weren't prisoners of the Alchemor. They were new to them.

"Judging their aspect, they're all bounty hunters. No doubt Starscream wants them to do his search." Optimus said

"Typical." Bee said and knocked out one of them while Optimus handle another one.

"Lieutenant!" Strongarm exclaimed. Bumblebee turned around and found a big Insecticon trying to strike him, but right then someone hit him first, making it fall on his back.

Bee looked behind and to everyone's surprise, Steeljaw had just helped him. The Wolficon extended his hand to help Bee stand up.

"Wow… thank you." Bee pointed out. Steeljaw wiped the dust off his tail, until looking to the Autobot, surprised about what he just said.

"You're… welcome." He smiled, not evilly as usual, but naturally. Even… kindly.

"He actually HELPED US?!" Strongarm was surprised, as the team rallied around them, in the center of all fainted Cons. "What have we missed?"

"Let's just say we assumed wrongly we knew him THAT well." Bee assured.

"If you say so… Look, I know that's not a good time, but-"

"You don't have to apologize, Strongarm. I do." Bee admitted. "Being this far from you all made me realize how much of a fool I was being. And you just don't know how happy am I to see you all here."

"I see you had a lot of time to think during your imprisonment." Optimus pointed out.

"Yes… Yes, I did, Father."

"Whoa, Father?" Sideswipe asked.

"Not now, Sideswipe." The Prime and the lieutenant said. Steeljaw held back a chuckle.

* * *

In a chamber filled with work stations and computers, Steeljaw managed to hack the system, getting information about the Power Surge Mini-Cons.

"Their last pinpoint was here. The Mini-Cons landed on Earth after escaping Starscream… however, they're spread all over the world. They can be anywhere."

"What could be so important about these mini-cons?" Sideswipe asked.

"Weren't you hearing what he said?" Bee pointed out.

"You're really asking HIM this?" Strongarm replied.

"Why, isn't this nice?" Starscream's voice rang, calling their attention, as he clapped slowly. "The happy family reunited once more."

"He knew we were coming." Optimus noticed the two Decepticon Hunters on the Con's hands glowing.

"Clever. Even for my charts." Steeljaw admitted.

"Silence!" Starscream growled, aiming both Hunters to them. Optimus used his Decepticon Hunter to block the aim.

"Let go of this, Starscream! Such power should not be used by someone like you!"

"You don't change a bit, do you, Optimus Prime?" Starscream gave him an evil smile. "Always putting your hopes in a worthless team… especially in one leaded by a weak scout. This time I'll make sure you'll all join the well of AllSpark in a way no Prime will ever come to save you!"

"Not if we have something to say, Starscream!" Bumblebee replied. "Handover the Decepticon Hunters and leave NOW!"

"Oh, I will leave. Once I get what belong to me." Starscream said and aimed at them all with both Decepticon hunters. Steeljaw stood in front firmly, receiving the heavy attack. The team was shocked, but no one more than Bee. Impressively, however, was that he still managed to stand up.

"But how...?" Starscream asked in shock.

"He was thrown away by Megatronus to a very-far distance, scratched himself heavily to enter to the scrapyard, and you still ask that?!" Sideswipe pointed out.

Then, all the team heard sounds of rushing. The Cons had recovered and all were reuniting around the Seeker. Sideswipe then noticed his Decepticon Hunter was in Kickback's servos. He dropped it when the Con tacked him before.

Starscream chuckled, while picking up the Decepticon Hunter, and joining all three he had together in the air. In a strong flash of light, he had a powerful, glowing, bluish armor revisiting his body and wings.

"All hail the new, improved and powerful Starscream!" He laughed maniacally.

The Decepticons cheered for Starscream's new power. The Autobots stood there in shock.

* * *

"I have succeeded where Megatron failed! The Autobots lay down defeated, and I stand victorious!" Starscream gloriated.

"Did he really just said that out loud?" Sideswipe commented.

"I think you have spoken too much!" Drift scolded.

"Fellow Decepticons, take the ship out of here, and bounty hunters, return to your search. Before extracting the left Dark Energon on this pile of dust and reaching you, i will get rid of this cracks in my pedes." Starscream ordered. After all Cons left, he looked at his victims while flying down.

"Optimus…"

The Prime didn't even needed to hear the rest to know what Bee wanted him to do.

"Autobots, we must prevent this ship from taking flight." He firmly commanded, and the team transformed and left with him.

"Oh, Primus… would I have become THAT?" Steeljaw asked.

"Almost." Bee said.

"I would have taken too far if you haven't stopped me… You saved me from my own madness."

"...you're welcome." Bee smiled to him.

"Autobot are foolish… always insisting in fight when there's clearly no way of winning..." Starscream moved his weapon up and started to lift Bee.

Starscream then felt someone just clawed, or at least tried to claw him on the back. This caused him loose the concentration and let go of Bumblebee. He struggled to stand up as Starscream turned to the Wolficon.

"I see you want to die first, right, Steeljaw?" The Seeker growled. Steeljaw just stood there, with his optics closed. Starscream then attacked him with his newly-acquired power, while his foe managed to defend himself the best he could.

"I never thought I would thank someone for betraying me… but if you hadn't done it, I would never realize I was wrong. Wrong to believe that any Decepticon would see this planet as I do… and that no Autobot would care for how I might feel." Steeljaw panted, and looked over to Bumblebee.

"What do you know about Earth!?" Starscream growled in anger.

"Apparently, more than you!" Steeljaw growled before glomping him, both engaging in a harsh battle. But nothing happened to Starscream, that had that all-powerful armour protecting him, and managed to shove the wolficon into a wall.

"Steeljaw!" Bee gasped.

"You had such potential to be a Con as threatening as me… and threw it all away for this shell of a planet!" Starscream roared, clenching his claws firmly againt the Wolficon's neck.

"I chose this path out of sheer grief and unwillingness. I chose this faction because I had no other way, and forced other cons to do this because they also didn't! But if being a Con means destroying the home I fought so hard to have, then maybe I don't wanna be a Decepticon anymore!" Steeljaw struggled to say, as the Seeker managed to struggle him to deactivation.

Bee however wasn't going to let that happen. He only had to make Starscream let go of one of those weapons to make him lose that power. Thinking carefully, he looked down at Starscream's pedes.

"I see you had your wings really well worked, Starscream," Bee started to provide a distraction. The Seeker looked back to him, softening the grip at the Wolficon's neck. "But for a flying Con, you should keep your feet in the ground."

Seeing where Bee needed to get, Steeljaw wiped his tail, making Starscream fall back and let go of one of his weapons. He coughed a bit of Energon while lying on the ground, while Starscream's armour disappeared in a flash of light.

Bee took the chance to recover his Decepticon Hunter, and stepped forward to help Steeljaw up. Realizing that he lost advantage, Starscream gasped.

"It's over, Starscream." Bee said, as he helped Steeljaw up, seeing the damage Starscream caused to him. "Last warning: let go of these Decepticon Hunters."

"T-this isn't over, you hear me?!" Starscream growled, stepping back. "I wouldn't leave this part behind for nothing." He shoot a button at the panel.

Red lights flickered all over the ship. The Cons, too busy fighting with the Autobots, realized that meant…

"Self-destruction!" Kickback gasped, holding firmly his unicorn plushie.

"Ey-yo, let's get outta here!" Thunderhoof said. All the cons obeyed, rushing to the ship's exits.

"Lieutenant! The ship is about self destruct." Strongarm called through com-link.

"Get everyone out of here." Bee ordered.

"But what about..."

"NOW! I'll find a way!" Bee said before looking back on Starscream. but he wasn't there anymore. Just the Decepticon Hunters. Where was he? Bee then noticing another door opened. Steeljaw coughed more Energon.

"He escaped… go after him..." The Wolficon struggled to say. "Leave me here..."

"Not this time." Bee said, extending a hand for the Wolficon. Steeljaw looked at him, even with his dazed stare.

Denny, Russell and Fixit were already outside with their boat, awaiting for the team. Soon they saw the team getting out from the ship and getting into the boat.

"Where's Bee?" Russell asked.

"full speed, Fixit!" Denny alerted.

The boat took off quickly from the ship and came to the shore. Soon as they got out of the boat the team could only observe as the abandoned chamber exploded, causing some waves to form on the lake.

Strongarm and the team feared for the worst. Bumblebee was nowhere to be seen.

After it went calm they saw someone coming out of the lake to the shore. Bee and Steel held each other while walking out of the water. Once they got to the others Steeljaw collapsed on the ground, due to his injuries. Bee looked over for a moment, worried, but ended up fainting too. Denny, Fixit and Russel could only stare in surprise.

"Wow… what have we missed?"

* * *

Back at the scrapyard, the team told Fixit, Russell and Denny about all the incident.

"So… all this time, all he wanted was a home?" Denny asked.

"i kinda feel bad about the things i said before..." Russell admitted. "I mean, if only we knew..."

"Sometimes, when we are driven by frustration, anger, or sadness… we make bad choices. Steeljaw followed this path and became a Decepticon, responding his pain with more pain. All he needed to make a better choice was someone he could really trust. Someone reliable." Optimus looked over to his son, who responded with a smile. Bee had recovered most of it, while Steeljaw barely emitted any reactions.

"How is he, Fixit?"

"Well, that was a huge blow. And I meant it in both senses. He will have to take a long-time r-r-r-r-recovering."

"Bee, are you sure about that?" Sideswipe showed his doubts. "I mean, he had his reasons, he was cool saving us, but-"

"I know we all have our reasons to still not fully trust him. But maybe this will change with time." Bee assured. "I'm more than willing to change this now… even because it's a bit my fault too. I refused to listen his side of the story, get to know him better… and only assumed what we already knew."

"Yeah… I kinda had a part on this too." Strongarm recognized. "but if you trust him… I think that's good for me." The others nodded.

"looks like the major part of the team have won." Jetstorm affirmed.

"I am sorry, Sideswipe." Slipstream affirmed.

"...you had me in "had a part on this too"." Sideswipe mocked Strongarm. "Looks like not even you can escape some mistake making, right?"

While Strongarm and Sideswipe started another arguing and fight, Bumblebee looked up at Optimus, who had his Decepticon hunter, which Bee managed to get back.

"You have to go back, right?"

"You know as well as I do that Cybertron is no longer a safe place for any of us. However, our family is reuniting once more. We are getting stronger with time."

"I'm glad to know." Bumblebee smiled to the Prime. "So are we."

"You are a fantastic leader, my son. Never doubt yourself." Optimus smiled to Bumblebee, but instead of only a handshake, Bee pulled the Prime close to a hug.

* * *

As Optimus left them in his ship, Bee turned to Fixit.

"Too bad you could not get those coordinates completely. These Power Surge Mini-cons need to be found if they are so important."

"And we have bigger problems now. With Starscream and all those cons around, we have plenty of work to do." Drift assured.

"So I say we have an immediate patrol." Bee tried to stand up, but his legs hesitated.

"Don't worry, sir, I'll lead them on it. You stay here and recover." Strongarm said. Sideswipe didn't like the idea, but since Bee really needed to recover he didn't spoke anything. THAT time.

"Okay." Bee agreed. "Autobots, let's rev up and roll out!"

As the team left, Bee turned to the Wolficon recovering. Since Steeljaw didn't wanted to be a Decepticon anymore… would he be interested in helping the team? Well, further questions would have to wait. He needed to recover as well.


	3. Steel meets World

It was night at the scrapyard. The team rested after the harshness of the previous battle with Starscream. Bumblebee didn't left Steeljaw's side for one moment, even resting beside his resting place.

Then a sound woke up the lieutenant. He looked to his side… and saw Steeljaw wasn't there anymore. In fact, the Wolficon was lifting up one of the empty stasis pods. He sighed as he looked at it, and lift up his arm to open it up, until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"You don't have to go in there if you don't want to."

"Haven't I caused you enough trouble?" The Wolficon looked behind. "Even if you do forgive me… I doubt the team will EVER let me go."

"Well, I will. You also don't have to stay here." Bumblebee pointed out. "I just wished I could have tried to understand you when we first met…" With this, Steeljaw couldn't help but to chuckle.

"Well, I never was the easiest kind."

The scrapyard door opened, and Steeljaw took a deep breath. He felt different… more free than usual.

"So… I guess this is goodbye for now." Bee commented.

"I think so. Good-bye, Bumblebee… and thank you." Steeljaw held Bumblebee's hand with both his hands, and then departed, changing to vehicle form. His howling soon was heard from distance. Bee smiled, even though he wished Steeljaw could have stayed longer.

* * *

In the morning, Bumblebee noticed his team was watching something in common. Something that was up high.

"Uh… what's going on?" He asked. Russell pointed up, and there on the scrapyard's card… was none other than Steeljaw. "Oh… um, okay, you guys can go, I'll take care of this."

As the team left to do their own things, Strongarm looked over to the card again. Then, she thought about something.

Steeljaw wrapped his tail around his body. It usually comforted him when he felt sad. As he watched the horizon he closed his optics for a moment, remembering of something from his past.

 _A young Steeljaw observed as three older Wolficons battled against each other. All in the spirit of becoming best warriors._

 _"Come on, Moonfang. Is that all you got? It's just a warm up here." A light gray Wolficon with golden optics challenged. The other two, a light purple femme with orange optics and a sandy brown male with screamin' green optics, prepared to continue._

 _Steel then thought of something, and pretended to fight against a rocky formation. He used same methods like his big brother, but as he attacked with his claws, the rocks atop of it almost hit him._

 _"Oh, tough little brother, right, Rush?" The sandy brown Wolficon said._

 _"Moonfang, BE NICE." The light gray Wolficon scolded._

 _"No, he's right, Rush… I'll never reach your fighting level. I'm just an Omega Wolficon… i don't matter." Steeljaw pouted._

 _"That's not true." Rush said, holding his brother and lifting him up, making him chuckle. "You are something really special, Steely, and I'm sure you'll show the Alphas someday that you are more than just an ordinary Omega."_

 _Then, Rush thought of something, and passed his claws on Steeljaw's arm. He flinched for a moment, but then saw the clawmarks left there were the same as his big brother's, and his friends. This made him smile._

Steeljaw touched his clawmarks, sighing. Bumblebee touched his shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"I thought you had left." The yellow Bot said, joining his side.

"I was leaving…" The Wolficon sighed, rubbing the back of his ears. "In fact, I tried going to the steel mill I once shared with my old pack… but then I found out it was reactivated, and full of human workers."

"Oh, right… I guess I should have told you this before." Bee looked away. How could he forget that?

"It's okay."

"So… why did you came back here?"

"This is honestly the only place I know besides that steel mill." Steeljaw looked at the horizon. "But I know very well that's not my place. Like I said, I caused you all enough trouble," He pointed out at the team members down there. Bee noticed how upset he was with himself. "And also like I told you, this planet is beautiful, and I wish I could know more of it… who knows? Maybe I could find a place I could call home. A place where I wouldn't hurt anyone."

Bee was worried. The past events had seemingly left Steeljaw traumatized and low of self-esteem. In fact, he didn't sound at all like the menacing Con he once were.

"Well… I guess I can't change your mind on that… But if you want help in finding a place…" This last suggestion made the Wolficon smile.

* * *

Fixit opened a groundbridge for Bumblebee. It was settled that he would help Steeljaw find a place to stay.

"I'll be try getting more of the Power Surge Mini-cons' location sig-sig-sig-sig-signatures while helping you." Fixit promised.

"Ready, Steel?" Bumblebee asked. "If you don't mind being called like that…"

"I'm actually okay with this… Bee." Steel answered, a soft smile.

Then, Bee approached his fist in order to fist bump, but Steel, not understanding at first, moved his own fist slowly. In response to this, the Autobot Leader just chuckled. After a quick stare at Fixit, and a look away from him, both mechs were crossing the groundbridge.

After he left, the Mini-Con sighed. He feared he made Steeljaw feel bad with that attitude. Then, he noticed Strongarm spying from nearby.

"Okay, they're out. We have two possibilities for the end of the day and we gotta be ready for both." She said through her audio, and rushed to get the team. Fixit became curious. What was she planning?

* * *

Bee and Steel's first stop was in a huge forest. It was a beautiful sight: the leaves on the trees were all in shades of orange and yellow.

"Dear Primus… look at all these trees…" Steeljaw looked all around.

"These forests are pretty beautiful, right? Especially in this time of year, during Fall."

"Fall?"

"Oh, right… you don't know about this." Bumblebee forgot that detail. He cleared his throat, and showed him a hologram of Earth. "Well, the planet is… wonky during its yearly spinning around the sun. So it's always pointing to different ways when it spins around it, causing climatic changes. Humans call these changes "seasons": Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter."

"Oh…"

"Now, we're passing through Fall or Autumn. The leaves are falling from the trees, the little critters gather food and people will soon start to celebrate Halloween and Thanksgiving. But I'll tell about them later."

By that moment, a leaf fell from the sky. It was a dry, orange, simple leaf… but it has a certain beauty that Steeljaw was more than charmed to know as he held it in his servos.

"We could help you build a treehouse. You would have a good sight of the sunsets, and always have squirrels around you."

"Hm… I do like squirrels." Steel thought for a moment. "Once I scared one off a tree, but gladly he wasn't hurt." Then, he heard a chirping sound. Precisely a squirrel was nearby collecting an acorn.

Then, a loud squawk in the sky. A goshawk was diving down at their direction!

* * *

Noticing the threat coming at the small critter's direction, Steeljaw had no doubts. He stopped in front of it and roared, scaring the bird away.

Then, after taking his breath, he looked over to the small critter. It was seemingly startled by the loud noise.

"He's gone now… it's okay…" The wolficon soothed. Kneeling down, Steel picked up the acorn and quielty moved his hand down. Leaving its hideout, the squirrel sniffed the Wolficon's hand, then climbed it, picking up its acorn.

Bumblebee stared out of sheer surprise. Never he knew this side of Steeljaw… with such compassion and caring for smaller beings. His thoughts were then interrupted by a tree branch falling on his head.

This called Steeljaw's attention, who couldn't help but to laugh. However, it wasn't his usual Con laugh; no, this laugh was more natural and honestly happy. Bee couldn't help but to chuckle at himself as well.

As he wiped his optics, Steeljaw stopped for a moment. Coming to think of that… he didn't remembered the last time he was so… happy.

 _The Wolficons drove around, following Rush. They laughed and howled in sheer happiness while driving._

 _"Wait for me!" An even younger Wolficon said, driving waaay beind them. "You always leave me behind!"_

 _"Come on, Steely. If you wanna hang out with the big mechs, you gotta get used to our rhyth- Whoa!" Rush said before he passed over a big lump on the path, that ended up moving him off the road and into a hole._

 _Rush looked up from the hole, covered in mud. By that time, Steeljaw transformed and looked down to his brother. He couldn't contain his chuckling, however._

 _"Rush, are you okay?"_

 _"Dirty and wondering what that lump was doing there, but yes, I'm fine." Steeljaw liked how his brother ALWAYS had an optimistic attitude despite everything. Good thing was the hole wasn't so big to help him out from there._

 _"Are you sure it's a good idea to drive so far from the Alphas? I mean, what if they ask about us?" The femme worried, as she and Moonfang used their tails to help him climb up._

 _"Duskchase, relax. I told them we weren't going that far from the pack. Let's just savour the daylight before it gets dark." Rush said as he cleaned himself up._

 _"What will happen when it gets dark?" Steeljaw asked._

 _"It's a clear sky night. Perfect for stargazing." Rush explained. "And you know, that hole reminded me of a perfect spot to see them."_

 _"Should we take him with us to that place?" Moonfang asked. "He still doesn't know how to-"_

 _"We'll teach him then," Rush decided. "He's one of us now. Steely, is the stars you wanna see?" The young Wolficon nodded. "Then you just stick with me." As his brother winked, Steeljaw chuckled._

Steeljaw remained stopped for a while, his optics gleaming as he remembered.

"Steel?" Bee asked, snapping him out. "Are you okay?"

"Uh… yes, sure." Then, he looked at his little critter friend, who was sniffing his face out of curiosity. After caressing it, he helped it to get climbing on the tree. "Look… maybe this place isn't the right one for me…"

"Oh, it's okay…" Bumblebee said. "We still have a long way, and many cool places to see." Steeljaw smiled faintly to him, and as he moved his fist, this time Steel answered a bit more quickly the fist bump, looking at his own this time after it. "Fixit, I'm sending you the coordinates for another groundbridge."

* * *

After programming another groundbridge, Fixit looked over to see a hurried Russell was heading to somewhere. First Strongarm gave a call to someone, then Sideswipe sneaked somewhere to get something, Grimlock tried obviously hide something by how he walked and now Russell brought up a box of stuff.

He tried getting a better spot of observation, to find out what was all that secret about. Sadly some of Denny's items were blocking the view.

He couldn't move them by his hands and pushing them aside wouldn't work, because they were too heavy for that. He actually tried, but he slipped and fell down.

"Ugh… I only hope Lieutenant Bumblebee and Steeljaw are doing better than I am…" Fixit shook his head.

* * *

"Wow… look at all these lights." Steel and Bee drived around a city's frontier, in vehicle mode.

"I know, right? Big cities like that have these kind of beauty. And usually have many abandoned buildings in very good state. You could move into one of those."

"Hm… wouldn't they be curious about sudden noise coming from these buildings?"

"i guess they would prefer running away…" Bee chuckled.

The Wolficon and the Autobot then stopped by a group of humans throw a party… a really messy party with mostly loud music and trash spread all over.

* * *

"Dear Primus…" Steeljaw could only say that, under the sight of such disrespect.

"Yeah… some humans don't know the value their own home has." Bee sighed. Then, he watched as Steeljaw drove forward. "Steeljaw… what are you planning?"

Always in vehicle mode, Steeljaw drove nearby the loud radio and made it fall, making the loud music stop.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your party, but I believe the authorities wouldn't like to know of such a mess." He said, trying to be as polite as possible.

"Hey, move out of our spot, you mook!" One of the teenagers threw his soda cup on Steeljaw.

The Wolficon growled, and after driving a bit back, he drove forward… drifting right by a water puddle, practically giving the bad-behaved humans a bath. The teenagers immediately retired of that place, rushing to their van and driving away.

"Okay, I gotta admit… THAT was clever." Bumblebee commented. The two of them chuckled as they drove away from there.

* * *

Fixit kept trying to tail the team, and find out what they were doing. Setting up a trampoline, he placed it in proper place before getting on it and starting to jump.

As his jumps got higher, he even saw Denny, Drift and his Mini-cons were there.

His apparent success in finding out was however interrupted once he noticed how high he jumped… and how far the trampoline was now.

No other way: the poor Mini-Con ended up falling down at the ground.

* * *

"I don't know… maybe this whole pollution and people around me won't do well as a home." Steeljaw pointed out as he and Bee drived to a small hill, and changed to robot mode. "Even if I do move to an abandoned building."

"Yeah, you do like the Earth, so living around this kind of thing wouldn't be a good idea." The lieutenant agreed. "But there are many other possibilities. There are beautiful caves to explore, there was once that amazing ghost town I visited with the team once…"

"A what now?"

"Long story. Basically what I intended a planet's wonder class became a Decepticon hunt…" Bee rolled his optics as he remembered. Then, Steeljaw looked down the hill. "It's a very challenging way down."

"Maybe… if you're not scared of doing this!" Steeljaw jumped and started sliding down the hill, his feet helping him slide.

Bumblebee was shocked first, but then smirked and followed him down, after picking up a dead tree trunk. It was like snowboarding… without snow.

"Check it out!" Bee made some cool moves while they continued to slide down the hill. Steeljaw chuckled for that. Then, something more came to his mind.

 _"Hey, Steely, check it out!" Rush said, sliding down from the hill. Moonfang slid down with his whole body, while Duskchase stood in one feet, and flipped in the air, landing on the floor. Steeljaw looked down, a bit nervous. "Come on down! The view of the stars is perfect from here!"_

 _"Uh… are you sure?"_

 _"Don't worry. I'm here. I'll catch you."_

 _Taking a deep breath, Steeljaw then tried to slide down, but his tail, got on his way, making him roll down to his brother's side._

 _He whimpered a bit seeing the others laughing at him, but Rush smiled to him and wiped the dirt off his face._

 _"Don't mind them. It was great for your first try." He pointed out to the sky. The starry skies looked beautiful. "Now isn't it just beautiful?"_

 _"Yes… it is." Steeljaw smiled, and the others sat closely to stargaze._

"It was fun. It's been really long since I enjoyed so much a game like that." Bee commented as he cleaned up the mess he was, but then he noticed Steeljaw was not there. "Steeljaw?"

* * *

This time Fixit tried catapulting himself to find out what was that whole secret about. After checking on his security and helmet, he launched himself… only to pass right above then, and land hard on the ground.

Hearing the scream, Strongarm looked behind.

"Fixit, there you are. I was looking for you all over the scrapyard."

Fixit chuckled as he recovered his balance.

* * *

As Bee looked over for Steeljaw, he saw the Wolficon sitting all alone, observing the stars. He silently stepped forward and sat by his side.

"Maybe… going out on this trip wasn't a good idea." Bumblebee was now convinced that he did something wrong. "I was trying to make you feel better, but I guess that didn't helped. I can call Fixit and we can go back right no-"

"No… wait, i-it's not that." The Wolficon stood up, and stared at him with a sincere look. "I'm enjoying this whole trip, really… a-and I'm not that sad… in fact, I'm actually happy."

"Y-you are?"

"Bumblebee… you remind me of someone very dear… the only one that truly believed me… that cared for me." He picked up his hologram device and projected a real-size hologram of his brother Rush, showing Bee the last time they talked..

 _"Steeljaw… I need to go."_ He said, portraying his big brother.

"You can't go out there and fight, Rush. You won't get back."

 _"But I can't continue here, doing nothing. I have to try fighting, or they will destroy our home."_

"No! Don't go! Everyone left to fight, a-and they will never come back again… If you leave… I'll be all alone… forever…"

 _"Steely…"_ The hologram Wolficon placed its paw on his shoulder. _"Listen me well. You will never be alone, as long as there someone, anywhere, that cares for you. As long as there's care, you'll have a home."_

By the time the hologram disappeared, Steeljaw looked down, sighing. Bee felt his spark would break.

"You came to know my convictions as a Con… but even with all alliances and all the power I fought so hard to conquer… I wasn't really happy… for no one ever cared for me as much as he did." Then, he turned to Bumblebee. "Until you."

"Me?"

"You didn't needed to come help me… and yet you're here, trying to make me feel better, not because I ordered or because you had no choice…" Bumblebee blinked in response. "You really care for me. You're… you're my friend."

With this, Bumblebee smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder. In response, for his surprise, Steeljaw pulled him close for a strong hug.

"I can't thank you enough for this. For showing me there could be another way… that I didn't had to be alone anymore." Steeljaw was plain honest. "I've spent so much time in blind revenge I've... forgot how to be me."

"Well… I owed you this…" The Autobot admitted, as he was put back on the ground. "After what you said when we were imprisoned by Starscream, I realized I should have given you a chance earlier. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if i didn't made things right." Then, he pointed out to the city faraway. "And we can agree this world is a beautiful place to stay… and i feel happy to be with someone with the same sense of wonder I have for it."

"There is so much more to see around this planet, and many beautiful places I can choose to live… but honestly, I think I know exactly where I want to be." Steel made up his mind, and his smile made Bee feel much better.

* * *

Crossing another ground bridge, the two friends walked back to the scrapyard.

"Even if the team takes a while, I'm more than sure they will eventually leave you be." Bee assured Steel. "Now, why don't Fixit help you change this sym-" Bumblebee was surprised to see the mini-Con wasn't there. Who activated the groundbridge? "Uh, Fixit?"

"Uh… hello?" Steel called, as they looked around the scrpayard. All lights were out.

"Strongarm? Sideswipe? Denny?"

Both walked a bit further to the command center, when out of nowhere little pieces of colorful paper and streamers came out.

"Surprise!" Both were startled by the sudden scream of the team. They were all reunited around a table.

"Wow!" Bee exclaimed.

"Wow…" Steel muttered.

"What's that all about?" Bee couldn't help but to laugh.

"Well, after we saw Steeljaw today, I realized that we never really thanked him for his help. And that you were not the only one that had to make things right with him." Strongarm pointed out. "Then, after studying a bit about earth celebrations and putting a small break on my usual schedule, I decided we should give Steeljaw a proper welcome. Therefore, we took the opportunity of you two going out for a while and decided to throw him a welcoming party."

"I…" Steel was wordless.

"We know things have been harsh in the past, but we are more than willing to help you go through it." Drift pointed out.

"You're more than welcome to hang around us whenever you want, Steeljaw," Sideswipe assured. "Just expect me to bother you a LOT due to you-know-what."

"In fact, Cadet Strongarm and Denny Clay had found something that might help you during this transition." Fixit delivered a small package to Steeljaw. As he opened it… there was a voice recorder.

"It would be healthy for you to record a journal. Besides… I never said it, but your voice is really beautiful." The cadet admitted. "Sure, you don't have to use it now if you don't want to."

Steeljaw looked at the small device, then as he placed the box at the floor, he caught Strongarm and Fixit in a very squeezy hug, whimpering in happiness.

"Uh… y-you're welcome." she said, after he realized how tight that hug was and let go of her.

"That's it… I've had enough wounds for one michael-cital-cycle…" Fixit pouted, returning to the control center. Bumblebee just smiled seeing the Wolficon so happy.

"Maybe I'll ask about the symbol later." He decided, putting a hand on Steel's shoulder. "Look… I know I'm not your brother… but I honestly would like to know you better. The REAL you."

"I can say there's no others I would trust more now… especially you, Bumblebee."

"Welcome to our team, Steeljaw."

It was now official: Steeljaw was now an Autobot, and a new member for Bee's team and family.


	4. Brother's Keeper

Along the roads, Team Bee pursued Vertebreak, who managed to escape its stasis pod.

"Honestly, Fixit, when will you fix this lock problem in the pods?" Sideswipe pointed out. "Isn't enough problem trying to find all the troublemakers Starscream brought to Earth?"

"I told you already, I didn't knew there WAS a problem. Especially since we checked every pod twice." Fixit complained through audio.

"It's not your fault, Fixit. But maybe some new programming on it could solve." Bee suggested. "Maybe Steel can help you with that."

"Speaking of him, I thought he was going to help us." The red Autobot pointed out.

"He's not… much into snakes."

"Well, at least they didn't try taking his body." Sideswipe pointed out.

"Um, sorry to interrupt the fascinating conversation, but I picked up a new signal near you. A groundbridge signal. I believe you have company."

The team stopped nearby the signal, and Fixit was right: It WAs a groundbridge and someone was coming from it. Everyone was ready with their weapons; in Grim's case, his fists.

From the groundbridge, they could notice the red armor on the bot who was coming over. Soon he stood in front of them while the groundbridge closed behind him. Everyone looked confused, when Bumblebee spoke.

"Knockout?"

* * *

The team looked confused, when Bumblebee walk forward to the former-Con medic. His usual red shades were more clean and clear than before.

"And here I thought you said red was overused…"

"Well, unlike you yellow doesn't work for everyone."

The two of them exchanged serious stares, but ended up snorting and laughing, leaving it clear they were joking.

"Oh, Bumblebee, you didn't changed a bit." KO wiped his optics.

"I wouldn't say the same to you, doctor. You just don't give up on red, right?" Bee said.

"You know me, Bee: I adore making a good impression."

"You're really Knockout?" Strongarm stepped forward. "As in THE Doctor Knockout? The Con that rebelled and joined the Autobots?"

"And you must be Cadet Strongarm." KO stepped forward. "Hm… good posture, confident stare, perfectly clean equipment… you must be a pretty dedicated girl. Just like Optimus told me."

"Coming from you… it means a lot." The cadet couldn't hide a giggle.

"So, Optimus sent you?" Bee asked. Then, the doctor looked over to see Sideswipe. He just turned around.

"So my brother really IS here. I hope he didn't caused you much trouble."

"Sideswipe's your brother?!" Strongarm couldn't believe that.

"That actually explains a lot about him." Bumblebee reflected.

"No, it doesn't! We're not even related!" Sideswipe replied, angrily, surprising the team. "Ugh, I'll see you in the base." He transformed and drove back to the scrapyard, while KO sighed.

"Still the same attitude… anyway, Bee, no jokes though, this new design is more YOU than the past one."

"Uh, not meaning to insult you, but you haven't answered the lieutenant's question." Strongarm pointed out.

"Lieutenant, I have found new signals." Fixit called over, interrupting the chat. "But they point to different directions. I'm so confused…"

"Fixit's having problems with finding Vertebreak."

"I'm sorry, you said Vertebreak?"

"Uh, yes…" Bee answered.

* * *

Back to the scrapyard, the team arrived as KO and Bee catch up with each other's activities.

"When he went berserk and started causing mischief, I'm the one who report him to the authorities. My surgeries in Con times are nothing compared to the atrocities he committed. Such disrespect against the fallen comrades… he didn't let their pieces rust in peace."

"Since we didn't had a clue about which coordinates were correct, we decided to investigate one by one. The rest of the team must be around, verifying the most distant."

"You got to let me help you find him. I cannot allow him to continue these foul actions against living or deceased Bots. Experimenting during the war is one thing, but playing around with patients is unforgivable for any doctorated Cybertronian."

"Oh, it's a pleasure to receive you in our base, doctor Knockout." Fixt greeted. "We apologize if it is not exactly a perfect one, but we're still setting things on our official Earth Base."

"Oh, trust me, young mini-con, I have seen worse. You should see what the Autobots called base back in the days." Knockout chuckled. "By the way, it were precisely Optimus and the others who sent me to check on everything. I tell ya, the things back on Cybertron are not okay. Whoever gives the orders now, thinks it's the supreme ruler of the universe or something like that."

"But are they-"

"They are all okay, despite being so far from home. In fact, your "father" misses you." KO's statement left Bee with a small smile.

"Aw, I miss him too. Speaking of family, about you and Sideswipe…"

"Phew… I thought I would never finish…" Steeljaw wiped his forehead as he walked over. "I don't know how Denny manages to get so much stuff at the same time, but at last I got me a safe spot to not crush them." KO moved Bee away as his optics locked at the Wolficon, widened. The lieutenant chuckled once he found out what was going on.

"Forgive my manners, but… does this magnificent combination of pieces have a name?"

The wolficon looked around, was he talking to…

"Me?" Knockout nodded. Steeljaw couldn't help but to chuckle nervously, before recovering his composure. "I'm… I'm Steeljaw." He bowed respectfully.

"Steeljaw… a name that shows fury, bravery, confidence… something that really goes well with this perfect tone of blue you have."

"My, you're a poet?" The wolficon chuckled.

"A doctor, actually. Now, a Wolficon… a very rare kind of animal-shaped Cybertronian, but undeniably fascinating…"

"I knew this was going to happen. He can't see a good-looking car that he starts drooling." Bee chuckled, seeing them hanging out so well. Russell and Strongarm nodded in understanding.

"I can say nice things about you too… like this lustrous shade of red…" Steeljaw complimented. "It really suits you well, and it match your optics."

"Oh, but look at these claw marks in your symbol!" KO pointed out, surprised. "We have to get this fixed!"

"Please, leave them. Personal reason." Then, Bee cleared his throat, calling both formers Cons' attention.

"Oh, yes, Sideswipe." Knockout remembered. "What he said back in the road is technically true. We are not related… but he is my brother."

"Say what?" Steel, who hadn't been there for the previous revelation, asked.

"After Cybertron's exiled Bots started to come back, life slowly began returning to normal, remember?

 _Well, when the last ship arrived, I was there to receive them all. Then, I saw Sideswipe… all lost in the crowd. He was a little younger, and seemingly fragilized. It looked in fact like he hasn't been safe for eons._

 _I felt something was missing in my life… so I took him in with me._

On Earth it's called adoption, correct?"

"You did a very good thing, KO. But I wonder why Sideswipe never told us about you."

"Well, after cycles living together, he eventually ran away. Never called me back, never messaged me… It's like he wanted to forget I existed." KO sighed.

"I was in one of the last ships with exiled cybertronians. Many came back without any relatives back then. *sigh* I know I did." Steel pointed out.

"… my condolences." Knockout tapped the Wolficon's shoulder. Drift and Grimlock arrived shortly after that.

"We have not located Vertebreak yet." Drift said. "None of the trails we followed leaded to his location."

"And we haven't found him."

"That is what I said."

"Okay, Fixit. You can risk the signals we followed. None of those leaded to Vertebreak's location." Strongarm told the mini-con.

"If we keep going on like this, we'll need a week to find him. And knowing him, we don't have this much time." Bee sighed. "Steeljaw, now your help would be really appreciated."

"*sigh* You know how I feel about this Con."

"I know. You're not much into snakes in general." Bee pointed out again.

"They just fell and look weird." Steeljaw replied, shivering as he thought.

"Why? Snakes are cool!" Grimlock said.

"Cats are cute." Steel backfired.

"Touché."

"You have reasons to worry," Knockout agreed. "But if you want help in tracking, I'm more than willing to help investigate the trails."

"That would… not be a bad idea." Steel accepted KO's help. Sideswipe looked over to the team, as Bee chuckled.

"Okay, you two can go search. Maybe take this time to know each other better." Bee suggested. As they agreed, Sideswipe took a decision.

* * *

As they investigated the remaining trail, with Steeljaw sniffing the trails, the two formers cons saw they had a lot in common. KO haven't felt so comfortable beside someone since ever.

"I swear, if I wasn't there, poor Clampdown would have been scraped by Thunderhoof." Steel remembered.

"Well, it sounds like that even as a Con, you are very loyal." KO chuckled.

"Well, wolves ARE loyalty symbols in any universe. At least that's what Bumblebee told me."

"He evolved a lot since the last time we've seen each other. I mean, he clearly grew taller than I would've imagine." KO joked, chuckling. Steeljaw laughed, then looked at the horizon.

"Bee and Earth… have an affinity I can only dream about. That's probably one reason why Prime choose him over anyone of his comrades to come here. He… taught me a lot, and showed me it's better to protect this place than have it all for yourself."

Steel then noticed KO looked lost in his thoughts.

"Thinking of him again? You know… your old partner?"

"Yes…" KO nodded. "WE had an affinity Cons can only think about." He sighed. Steeljaw touched his shoulder, receiving a small smile from him.

Sideswipe just stared at a safe distance, having trailed their search since they left the scrapyard. He groaned, not noticing Strongarm had arrived until she touched his shoulder, startling him.

"Don't do that."

"Well, now you know how I feel." Strongarm said. Sideswipe just rolls his optics "Now, seriously, how come you never told anything about him? If I knew you were related to Knockout-"

"I told you, we are not related."

"I know, you were adopted, but you didn't told us he raised you. Why?"

"He didn't raised me. He TORTURED me! always pointing out about how unprepared I was for anything, and how Breakdown would have done better!"

 _"He always expected more, better, perfect! And just couldn't shut his mouth about how things were with Breakdown… I couldn't handle much more of that, I wasn't his old partner and he knew it!"_

"All I ever did, everything I tried… was all for him. And still he looks at me as if I didn't mattered." Sideswipe rarely showed such sincerity in his words, and neither such sadness.

"… no wonder you hated me when we met…" Strongarm reflected. "You lived with someone which life was all based on strict rules. I should have guessed that-"

Then, they saw Steeljaw moving his ears as if he heard something nearby. Then, he made a signal for KO to move quietly. The two teenager Bots followed them through the trail.

"This is a recent trail. It's fresh." Steel pointed out, as they arrived at the lake. The two former cons hide themselves just in case. before they called the base.

"Bee, you won't believe to what the trail we followed leaded." KO pointed out. There, in front of them, the lake's water carried the remains of Starscream's ship. Just the sight of it made Steeljaw's spark hurt a bit.

* * *

"By the Primes…" Strongarm observed the floating pieces from where she and Sideswipe were. "Can't believe this is still around." Then, she quieted down, seeing Vertebreak coming out of the water, and shaking off the water on his body. Steel shivered at the sight of it.

"It is surprising how even after a ship is destroyed, not everything is fully useless. I have found some very good raw material that will serve me well, and also a very gratifying power source for it." The snake doctor smiled evily. "Whoever left this here, thank you."

"What should we do now?" Steeljaw asked. "I don't feel like facing that snake now."

"I say we get discreet then. We must follow him to find out wh-" KO's idea was interrupt when Sideswipe jumped forward to attack.

"Hold it right there, Dr. Freakshow!" He said, confidently. Strongarm sighed loudly.

"Oh, what do we have here? Sneaky Autobots!"

"What are they doing here?!" KO growled.

"I'm still pretty mad with you for what you did to me, Vertebreak! I'm going to put you back into that pod personally!"

"You say it like it's a bad thing. I think splitting you from your body might have given you a chance of using the part which you use less of your structure."

"HE DID WHAT?!" Knockout growled, and Steeljaw gasped.

"Enough chit-chat. You are under arrest and have the right of-" Strongarm said, until she was cut.

"No!" Sideswipe stopped Strongarm. "I wanna do this alone! This snake's gonna fall!"

"But, sideswipe-" Vertebreak took advantage and took down the two of them with one swift attack.

"Step away from them, Vertebreak!" Knockout came out with his staff ready to fight.

"You! You are the reason I lost my position in the ministry!"

"You didn't deserve it after what you had done. Step away from my brother and Bumblebee's cadet."

"Oh, I'm not done yet. For I have a bigger project now and I'm so close to finish it."

"No, you are not. Prepare for surgery!" Knockout said and charged on Vertebreak, but right then Sideswipe tried that too. Taking the chance, he slipped away, letting them both hit their heads hard.

Strongarm tried apprehending him with her weapon, but none of her shots hit him. About Steeljaw… well, just a hiss from the snake doctor left him unable to react, and easily knocked down.

"Well, it was a fun reunion, old friend… however I have to go back to my power source and my project. Oh, but fear not, you will be seeing it soon, and will surely lose your heads when seeing it!" Vertebreak laughed maniacally as he departed.

"Everyone alright?" Strongarm asked and went help.

"I would be fine… if he didn't stand in my way!" Knockout complained. "I had him right at my optics, and you had to stay in the path!"

"Me?! I wanted to get that snake myself! You don't know what he had done to me!"

"Oh, but I can guess it happened because you have been showing off as always. All this time and you haven't learned anything, little brother."

"I'm not your BROTHER!" Sideswipe growled.

"Want it or not, you are!"

"Why don't you leave me alone?!" Sideswipe pulled out his sword and charged against Knockout. They soon started fighting each other for the horrified surprise of Steel and Strongarm.

"Please, stop! Don't fight!" The wolficon tried to call their attention, seeing the furious bad boy teenager bot trying to seemingly rip his adoptive big brother to pieces.

"you can't beat me, Sideswipe! You know I'm older and more experienced than you!" Knockout pointed out. "I was raised among the most feared, and had the best partner in all existence!"

"I don't CARE! I won't stand here hearing every word about how despicable and much of a nuisance I am to you!" Sideswipe kept screaming in rage. "Admit it, I'm nothing but a let down! I'm not your partner and I never will be!"

"Sideswipe, stop!" Strongarm ordered, standing in front of him. It was terrible seeing brothers fighting.

Knockout wanted to try speaking, but instead got an uppercut by his little brother, that made him fall hard on the ground, right where the team was standing. Steeljaw rushed to help him while Sideswipe whimpered.

"Is this good enough for you now?!" Sideswipe started breaking down in lubricant tears. "Was I EVER good enough for you?!"

"Sideswipe…" KO observed his little brother transform and drive away to the same direction to where Vertebreak had departed. Steeljaw and Strongarm just stared, too shocked to say anything.

* * *

The two members told the team about the incident, and Bee was even more shocked to hear it all.

"He did what?!"

"I know, it's terrible. I'm worried Sideswipe might put himself in danger. He said it himself he wanted to personally arrest Vertebreak." the cadet feared. KO just stared at his own weapon, really upset.

"Look, I'm sorry for what happened. I-I guess it was my fault… I took you from him too much, but I was just excited to have another former Con by my side." Steeljaw feared.

"No, no… i-it's wasn't your fault, Steeljaw… I'm not mad at you, really…" KO pointed out, patting him. "I'm just horrified. I can't believe I did this! I-I could have killed him!"

"the way he reacted… I never saw him so upset." Strongarm admitted. "Although it's understandable at a certain point."

"What do you mean?"

"Sideswipe told me you were very… stern with him. That you always expected him to be like your past partner Breakdown."

"I…" Knockout looked down. "I did… oh, Primus…" Everyone looked at him.

"You didn't noticed you hurt him, right?" Bumblebee sighed.

"I… I was just… Ugh…" KO's spark hurt of guilt. "I did some horrible things as a con… I only wanted him to not make the same mistakes I did, and then, I… I just pictured the best mech I've met in my life, and made up my mind to make him get like that…"

"I… understand this." Steeljaw thought.

"As father, I know how it is. You wanna make sure they're ready to face any danger, but sometimes you don't see the effects of the way you teach them." Denny said. "As big brother and responsible for him, you had to also know how does he feel."

"Yes… I had to…" KO sighed. He was not a brother to Sideswipe after all.

"It's not too late, Knockout. We'll find him and you can say you're sorry and try make it up with him. I promise." Steeljaw promise, holding Knockout's hand.

"Lieutenant! I just fo-fo-fo-found Sideswipe's signal. It's somewhere in the undergrounds.

"Again? What's with Vertebreak and train wrecks?!" Strongarm wondered.

"Vertebreak has a thing for dark and spooky places." KO shivered. "His hideout in nearby where once the Predacon cemetery was located."

"Uh, this time it's not on the trail rails. I'm not sure actually where this signal wil lead. It's not in any near of the city."

"Where exactly does it lead?" Bumblebee wondered.

* * *

Soon they arrived to the coordinates, thanks to a groundbridge. Their surprise was them all being led to a mine none of them knew it even existed.

"I didn't knew there was a mine around here." Bumblebee thought, as they entered the dark mine. "And we've been around these whole area many times."

"It might have been recently activated." KO wondered. "Now, Fixit, can you send again the coordinates? My tracker is a bit messed up."

"Allow me." Steeljaw cleared his throat. Then, as he called for his screen, he pointed the right direction.

"Good boy," KO rubbed Steeljaw's ears, and he patted his feet on the floor, his tail wagging in excitement, the team chuckling.

* * *

Vertebreak threw his pursuer into the wall of his secret lab. Sideswipe bearely resisted to his wounded body.

"You have been really fun for a while, young bot, I must say."

"Vertebreak!" KO's voice rang loudly. The Autobots stepped forward. "Stay away from him!"

"Oh, my Autobots friends. I'm so glad you arrived. You are about to witness my newest creation." Vertebreak started to walk backwards. Then, he climbed aboard a control cabin, on top of a humongous structure. At the press of a button, the sight of a snake-like structure, made of metal pieces and cybertronian members came to the team. The team stared in horrified surprise.

"Uh… have I said how this guy freaks me out?" Steeljaw said.

"Now you won't be able to trap me on that stasis pod ever again!" Vertebreak cackled evily, piloting his structure, with his own body controlling the movements.

"You won't cause more trouble to any, bot or human, Vertebreak!" KO growled.

"Autobots, no pity!" Bumblebee ordered. All the members charged against the huge snake structure. Ko however rushed to help his little brother. Vertebreak charged against him with his tail, but Steeljaw stood in front.

"No one will put a scratch on your perfect painting, I promise." The wolficon friendly smiled to him. Drift's mini-cons were soon grabbed and thrown away by the arms they fought against. The bounty hunter then sliced the arms of the structure, but… they kept moving?!

Strongarm and Grimlock defended with all they got, but the disassembled arms disarmed the cadet, and the ones in the structure grabbed the Dinobot.

"Okay, slicing the arms don't work. But something has to stop this thing." Bumblebee wondered. Steeljaw then checked on something glowing into the structure's center.

"There!" Steeljaw noticed. "If we take the energy source in the center,this thing will crumble into pieces."

"Good idea!" Bee agreed. "Autobots, forget all the arms! Go for the center!"

Each team member tried reaching for the structure's center, but all the time, the structure's arms kept grabbing and moving them away. Vertebreak laughed maniacally.

"You are so foolish! This new energy I acquired has made this test drive a success! But before I start making my way into your groundbridge…" He stared at the Autobots,as they struggled to stand up. "I will make sure none of you stand in my way ever again!

Sideswipe by that time recovered his balance. As his optics adjusted, he saw all the team trapped by the structure's tail. Everyone tried to get loose, but couldn't. Sideswipe looked where they tried to aim.

KO and Bee gasped, fearing for the worse as they turned their helms. Vertebreak them cackled evily and charged.

SLASH!

As the team opened their optics and turned, they all saw Sideswipe in front of them with his sword on hands, as if he just…

Their suspects were confirmed, once the whole structure crumbled: the bad boy bot has sliced the energy source, breaking the arms' connection with the structure and making it all fall apart.

As Vertebreak groaned before fainting, Sideswipe called back his sword, and after a serious stern at the team, who stared at shock, he started to leave. KO then felt Steel touch his shoulder and nod at him. It was time for them to talk.

* * *

As the team followed Sideswipe out of there, KO walked forward.

"Sideswipe?" KO called for him.

"We don't have anything to talk about." The bad boy bot refused to stare at him. "You want to pretend nothing ever happened, but it did! why don't you just admit it? I'll never be Breakdown… I'll never be perfect." He clenched his fists, and struggled to not leak.

"…you're right… you're not Breakdown. And I shouldn't have expected you to be like him, when you could be better… when you could be yourself." Knockout sighed. Sideswipe's optics widened in surprise. "You have all the reasons in the universe to dislike my presence, as much as I have reasons to hate myself for what I did then and now. But I don't want to feel like this anymore, and I'm sure you don't want to keep this hatred too, right?"

"…no." Sideswipe turned around.

"You're right… I did took you in, but I was never your brother." Knockout lamented. "But I do want to try again. I want your trust back, and to be the big brother you truly deserves. Someone that instead of just scolding all you do wrong, shows you he loves you anyway."

"…and this will be good enough for you?"

"…will it be okay for you?"

Sideswipe with that could no longer contain his emotion and embraced Knockout, sobbing silently.

"I'm sorry, Sideswipe., I've been so busy trying to redeem myself for what I did wrong as a Con… that I forgot about the one good thing I did as an Bot." The medic muttered, not containing his own tears. As the brothers had their moment, Steeljaw smiled and Bee tapped his shoulder.

* * *

Back to the scrapyard, KO was ready to leave.

"Too bad you have to leave now… It was great working with you." Steeljaw said.

"Well, I was searching for a new partner on Cybertron." KO pointed out. "Maybe when we do return…"

"I have some things to do here. But I hope we get to see each other again." Steeljaw formally bowed, making KO chuckle.

"You are just unique, Steeljaw." He scratched his ears again.

"Hey," Sideswipe called. "I'll… I'll miss you, big brother." KO smiled by hearing this.

"Safe travels, KO." Bee greeted. As the groundbridge opened, he waved to the team and left.

"Sideswipe, I kinda messed up by taking him away from you like that… you could have solve this thing between you earlier if I didn't-" Steeljaw nervously said.

"What? He missed the best friend he ever had. You're EXACTLY what we BOTH needed." Sideswipe guaranteed, making Steeljaw rub the back of his helm. "Really, Steel… thank you very much for helping us both."

Bee smiled as he saw them fistbumping each other.


	5. The Scrapyard Daily

Russell was returning back to the scrapyard from the football game. After reaching the front door, he saw his father rushing to his car.

"Hi, dad, where are you going?"

"I got to check some good items. We might get some good 80's lunch boxes soon."

"That's… great. Any bots in base?"

"No, they're out in a mission. Seems like they found Clampdown hiding in the woods. But Fixit is in the command center if you-" With that, Russell rushed inside, while Denny shook his head with a smile.

To the boy's surprise, Fixit wasn't in his usual spot. Where he could be? Russell walk to inside the control panels, and found the Mini-Con writing something on his tablet.

"Fixit?"

"Oh, hi Russell. How was your same-name-game?" He glitched again.

"Hank and I planned some good strategies today. And you?"

"I'm working on something I have started since the events on Decepticon Island. I write down all that has happened to all of us. It's a hobby of mine."

"You mean like in a journal or a diary?"

"Something like that. I call it The Scrapyard Daily. Good name, right?"

"Yeah. Can I see some?"

"I don't see why not. Here, I show you the most recent ones." Fixit said and came forwards while Russell took good position to listen. "This one happened a week ago. It started with Sideswipe… with another impatience crisis… big news, right?" Russell's chuckle confirmed that.

* * *

Sideswipe observed the carwash Strongarm discovered. There was some cars passing through it, so he had to wait to sneak in and get washed. He needed one good bath now, before going back on the mission.

"Sideswipe, are you there?" bee's voice on his audios startled him.

"Yes! I mean, sure. No sign of Springload anywhere. And you guys got any luck?"

"No. If we can't find him around our location, I'm gonna have to order a groundbridge for our return." Bee sounded a bit sad. "I was so sure we were gonna get him this time..."

"Relax, Bee. Knowing Springload, he will try go after that Dorado thing."

"Doradus." Strongarm corrected.

"Whatever. He'll probably walk in circles." Sideswipe pointed out. "Or in his case, jump."

"Heh. Maybe. Well, we'll give another check around here. Give us a call if you see something."

"Got it." Sideswipe said before end the call. Then, he chuckled at himself, totally forgetting about the carwash. "I can totally imagine that frog jumping all over asking lifeless statues about that fictitious place. 'Oh, you know the way to Doradus? I will destroy you!'"

Then, as he jumped, Sideswipe's Decpeticon Hunter started to glow. With a second jump, Sideswipe noticed how high he went.

"Whoa!" The bad boy bot was shocked, but then observed, as he fell down safely. "Wow. I didn't knew I could do this." After testing a few more jumps, he gleefully laughed. "This is awesome! Drift will be sooo jealous and Windy would be so amazed!"

During one of his new super-high jumps, he saw the scrapyard, and an idea came to his processor.

* * *

In the scrapyard, everyone had arrived and Bumblebee suggested that everyone should rest while Fixit looks on Springload's signal.

Strongarm went look over the rule book. Grimlock lay down to watch TV with Russell. Denny was helping Fixit to locate Springload's signal. Steeljaw was trying to build something to catch Springload without touching his acid skin. Bumblebee however went elsewhere to rest.

Sideswipe didn't waste time in use his newfound amazing power to prank his comrades. First, he jumped high to drop water over Drift and his students, who went meditate to calm their body and mind.

Then, messing up with "ms. know it all", by distracting her with taps on her shoulder. On Grimlock he drop tar all over him, getting him all dirty and sticky.

He couldn't hold his laugh by seeing the looks on their faces. And the best part is that nobody suspected of anything.

"Wow, what happened here?" Steeljaw asked while came to look what was going on. Then, he sniffed the air, and quickly guessed what happened.

* * *

Sideswipe kept jumping around the woods, laughing about the successful pranks he just pulled.

"Oh, this must be the best day ever! I wish I had discovered this earlier." However, at his delight, he didn't noticed when his leaping caused him to bump into something.

"What the..."

"You!" There was Springload, with a threatening stare. "My trail to find Dorados has leaded me back to this miserable land?!"

"Your place is in a stasis pod, and that's where I'll take you!" Sideswipe called for his sword.

Sideswipe tried blast Springload, but he kept jumping away. He knew he couldn't touch him for long because of his acid skin. But how could he attack him without even touching?

Wait… the carwash! With all that, he totally forgot about it. And then, an idea came to his mind.

"Hey Springload! Try catch me before I get to Dorados first." Sideswipe said, before he started leaping his way back to where he was before that all happened.

"You will not dare taking my place!" Springload started to follow him.

Now it was finally closed for the day. Sideswipe landed close to it and waited Springload to get close.

"Bathtime, Springload!" Sideswipe said before going through. Springload of course followed him, but he got stopped more than once by all the soap, machinery and drying.

By the time that ride ended, the frog Con was dizzy and fell on the floor, Sideswipe needed to do was place stasis cuffs on him.

"All clean." He chuckled, until he heard someone clearing its throat behind him.

He turns around to find Bumblebee and Steeljaw standing there, followed by the team, who were surely not happy to see him.

"I knew that was a familiar track. Even the leaps can't erase a trail of pranks." The wolficon pointed out.

"How did you…?" Sideswipe was saying. Steeljaw then sniffed the air, and pointed to his muzzle.

"Sideswipe…" Bumblebee muttered with a serious look.

"What? So catching this guy by myself technically don't clear my bar?" Steeljaw then whispered something to Bumblebee, which he smiled to.

* * *

Back at the carwash, Sideswipe saw Grimlock taking over the washing area all cover by soap.

"Don't forget to rub all the scales." Grimlock reminds.

Sideswipe groan in agony and picks the sponges to clean him. He has to wash the dinobot all by himself.

* * *

"Oh, no wonder he looked so tired the next day." Russell chuckled.

"Well, Grimlock did made sure work wasn't done from a wh-wh-wh-wh-while. And this means, getting himself dirty again with mud puddles." Fixit remind. Russell laugh for that.

"I can't say he didn't deserved that. He wasn't counting on Steel's smart nose."

"Speaking of which, the next one is precisely about Steeljaw. Let's just say he found out something he didn't knew he had on him..."

* * *

Steeljaw observed the starry skies. It was a perfect night for it.

"Jetstorm! More focus!" Drift's scold interrupt his calm moment. What was going on there?

"I believe he have tried more than his usual number of times, master."

"It does not look much focused yet." Drift replied, Jetstorm's tired and stressed expression ignored by him, but noticed by Steeljaw.

"Master, he is doing his best. You know Jetstorm has not the same kind of balance I have, although we received the same training."

"Which is why he needs to concentrate. His weak balance and even weaker moves has to be reinforced for future battles."

"You think I am weak?"

"That is not what he said..."

"Slipstream, do not interfere with this."

"You do not believe I will ever reach up to Slipstream or you, do you?!" Jetstrom was terribly offended. His stress was visible on his optics.

"Jetstorm!" Drift replied that with his usual sternness. Slipstream feared for the worst.

"Well, maybe you're right! I'm no good enough. And maybe it's better to be like this, because I do not want to be like you, Deadlock!"

Drift's optics widened, and he had no chance to reply as the Mini-Con gasped and ran away, his brother staring in shock, covering his mouth with his hands. The bounty hunter could only sigh and leave, Slipstream following him without a choice.

Steeljaw look concerned about what just happened. He had heard about Drift's past as a decepticon from Bumblebee. But he could tell Drift didn't like mention it.

* * *

Jetstorm threw away his own weapons, shivering of sadness. He would never be able to face Drift after what he just said.

"I believe these are yours." Hearing that sentence made Jetstorm hide his face under his arms in fear.

"Oh, it is you, Steeljaw. My apologies." Jetstorm bowed.

"I'm used to that. So… you and your master had some kind of...argument?"

"I offended him really hard. But w-what else could I say?" Jetstorm looked down. "After the events with Optimus Prime in the "away team", me and Slipstream were sure things would be different, but… he continues to treat us like we are mere students, and make us feel bad about ourselves. He truly is not the best for complementing, but… we grew to appreciate Master Drift's company… he became a bot we really cared for… as if we were..."

"A family?"

"...at least I assumed we would be like this someday..." Jetstorm couldn't help but to leak a bit. Steeljaw kindly smiled and wiped the Mini-Con's optics.

"You have grown a lot in training, but you and your brother are still very young. What you require for these cases is not a teacher, but a family." Steeljaw extended his hand to him. "And since you don't feel like being by his side..."

"You want me to… be your student?"

"No… it's your choice… but I would prefer to have a brother again." Steeljaw poked his helm gently.

Jetstorm thought for a moment. Well, he and his brother stayed with Sideswipe and it was a different experience… maybe being with Steel could be something different from being with Drift.

"Okay then... Brother." He smiled, feeling a comfort he hadn't felt in eons as he took Steel's hand.

* * *

The next day, Jetstorm soon started feeling a lot better while Steeljaw and him hung out. They worked together around the scrapyard, helping with minor work, learning about Earth things and trained as well.

Much times, Jetstorm made mistakes and expected the worst, but Steel just assured him it was all okay and he could always try again. So little time they passed and it seemed like they spend more than this together.

After a few hours of training, Jetstorm panted, kneeling down.

"Jetstorm, I guess your attack was a bit slowed down this time."

"I'm sorry. I don't think I can perform another of these." Jetstorm sighed. "Maybe Master Drift was right about my reflexes..."

"Sure you can. I've seen you do this before." Steel assured. "come on, let's try again."

"Okay..." Jetstorm sighed and tried again his nunchaku attack against Steeljaw, but merely scraped his arm.

"Come on, that's the best you can do?"

"You say it like I'm not even trying."

"It seems like it to me. I've seen you more tired than this and still able to do better moves than this." Steeljaw pointed out, serious.

"I can't do this anymore! I'm too tired!" Jetstorm looked down. "I'm not like you, with such strength!"

"You're stronger than you think!" Steeljaw pointed out.

"But I'm not a con like you!" Jetstorm scolded, then gasped, covering his mouth. Steeljaw sighed and came closer to him. Looks like he finally got it.

"Not exactly different from when Drift was with you, right?"

"...no." Jetstorm realized. Steeljaw lift up his sad frown and cradled him up in his arms.

"Look, you have a point about his stern ways… but you shouldn't blame Drift's harshness on his Con past."

"... I believe you're right. But… how will I ever say this to him?" Jetstorm feared.

"You do not have to." Drift appeared, having been hidden for all that time.

"Master Drift?"

"We have been watching for a while, Jetstorm. Master Drift was worried." Slipstream said while walking forward.

"He was?" Jetstorm asked and looked at him. Drift simply nodded to him.

"I know you want them to be strong, even though you're no longer their teacher." Steeljaw pointed out. "but perhaps your concern about them being better is no longer a teacher-student thing, right?"

"You are correct." Drift knelt to stare at Jetstorm. "I have grown fond on Jetstorm and Slipstream… like none other of my students. But I am not experienced on this kind of care. I have… never had a family."

"Jetstorm… you believe you can give Drift another chance?" Steeljaw tapped the mini-Con's shoulder. "Better saying, give your "father" another chance?"

"... I guess I can."

"Very well… I will try to… pull back on my harshness, and be more careful with my words… and pay more attention to how you may feel."

With this, Jetstorm smiled and walked to him, bowing in respect, but being surprised by being lifted and hugged by Drift, and by Slipstream.

"We missed you." Slipstream said, tapping his brother's helmet.

"Well… I guess my work here is done." Steeljaw concluded. Jetstorm then whispered something to Drift.

"Steeljaw, wait." Drift asked. "I am not sure I can keep this promise for long, for you know how hard I can be. So we would like you to join us in our training."

"Your company will be appreciated by all of us, and your help in more… personal issues as well." Slipstream added.

"As in student and teacher?"

"Something like that." Drift nodded. Steeljaw then looked at Jetstorm smiling. He really wanted to continue their hanging out.

"I would be honored." The wolficon bowed in respect.

* * *

"Oh, so that's why Steeljaw had hang out so much with Drift, Jetstorm and Slipstream."

"This was really effective. In fact, since Drift's a former Con, he and Steel have a lot to talk about."

"I'm glad. So… are there more stories?"

"This last one is recent. It's about Bumblebee, and his previous human friends..."

* * *

Strongarm and Bumblebee verified the perimeter.

"All clear here, sir." Strongarm report.

"Good to know. Then stasis pods are also re-checked." Bumblebee sat down for a moment, and took a look at a picture he kept. There was him as a scout and all of Team Prime. Including their human friends.

"Remembering the past, sir?"

"Yeah… sometimes it's good to do this."

"Who are those? Strongarm asked, pointing to the kids.

"These were our human friends, Raf Esquivel, Jack Darby and Miko Nakadai. They found out about us just like Russell and Denny did, last time we were here on Earth."

"Look at how happy they are."

"Yeah, we've became a big family. Especially me and Raf."

"I wonder how they are doing today… I mean, they've possibly grown up and started living their own lives, but are they okay?"

"... I don't know..." Bee whispered, gasping in realization. "I didn't even asked them! I've been here on Earth for so long and didn't even called them?!"

"You… what?"

"I can't believed I forgot about them! What would they think of me, o-or do they even remember me?!" Bee's despair was visible.

"Me and my big mouth..." Strongarm sighed.

* * *

Bee made up his mind to make it up for all the time he could have contacted his old friends. But how he would do this was a doubt. He paced around the scrapyard, scribbling ideas.

"Maybe I should give them a voice message… but would they even get it?" He threw away a piece of paper. He tried to think other possible ways "Letters? No, maybe they moved... Video chat? No, what if they think it's a prank?"

Strongarm then took a decision, seeing her superior in such despair.

* * *

By the sunset, there was Bumblebee, out of paper, and still without any ideas. He felt terribly guilty as charge. How could he forgot about his old friends like that?!

Right then, Fixit came forward. tapping his leg, and startling him.

"Uh… delivery for you from Optimus Prime." Fixit gave him a package. "He told you to watch as soon as you received it." There, inside that package, was a small disc.

Bumblebee then put it to play to find out what was there. Strongarm sat by his side to watch, with a stare that said "hope this works".

The first image showed a familiar setting… Team Prime's base?

" _Is it on?"_ He heard a voice behind the camera.

" _Yes, go."_ He heard another voice. Then, the camera turned to a familiar face: a dark haired man, wearing a white shirt and denim jacket. Was that… Jack?!

" _Uh… what should I-"_

" _Just say something to him."_

" _Uh… okay. Hey, Bee… and whoever is on his team now."_

" _Hey, I needed that! Give it back!"_ That woman's voice sounded older but it had to be… yes, it was Miko! Her hair was shorter, but still had pink stripes, and she weared black pants, white top and black jacket. She chased a blonde preteen, who had her phone.

*bzzzz*

" _Okay, Miko, what you have to say to Bee?"_

" _Well, maybe wish him good luck. Oh, and go punch those Decepticons right where it hurts!"_ Yep! That was really Miko.

" _Children, please, don't mess with Jack's motorcycle!"_ June begged, rushing after some smaller children, two boys and a girl.

" _My what?!"_ Jack gasped, and rushed to his mom's direction.

*bzzzz*

" _Ssshhh. Kids, don't bother Agent Fowler."_ The cameraman asked. The children from before were tickling the agent's body with feathers and drawing on his face. Fowler apparently haven't changed a bit.

*bzzzz*

All the humans seen before were sitting close and hearing Miko's stories.

" _Isn't this awesome, Bumblebee? All this time, and we still keep our story going. We have our lives, our beliefs and dreams, but like Optimus taught us… family is something that must never come out of context. And we have to make sure it stays like this."_ With these words, Bee smiled, starting to leak a bit. Then, the camera turned around, revealing Raf's face. He looked a bit older, but that was his old buddy. " _Look, we haven't seen each other in a while… but I want you to know I'm not angry for you not calling us again. Ratchet filled us in the details, and I understand things are not okay yet on Cybertron, and leading a team by yourself is hard. But I have faith in you, Bee. As much as I have faith we'll see each other again. And then, I'll show you more of how our family is today."_

" _Hey, Raf!"_ Miko's voice called.

" _We'll always be friends, Bee. Always."_

After another cut, there was Miko, Raf and Jack waving at the camera, with Jack's mother June and Agent Fowler. Around them, all the children from before.

As the disc finally stopped playing, Bee and Strongarm stayed sitting there.

"Hey, Bee, no cons around the woods." Grimlock stepped forward. "Should I warn about inactivity or-" His speech was interrupted when Bee and Strongarm looked back, their optics soaked with lubricant.

As Bee stood up, he tapped Grim's shoulder, and wiped his optics with a smile, before getting on his way to patrol.

"Wow… what he saw?"

"He just got a call from an old friend." Strongarm wiped her own optics, moved by the situation, and making sure to Grim all was okay.

* * *

"I'm happy for Bee. I hope we get to meet Raf, Jack and Miko someday." Russell said.

"Me too."

Then, they both heard car engines, and soon all five vehicles and dino-crane came into the scrapyard. Grimlock placed down the uncomnscious Clampdiown. Steeljaw stepped forward and placed down the stray kitten.

"Hey, where you find him?"

"Rush here met me during my search. I tell you, russell, this kitten is very inspiring." Steeljaw said. The little kitty just meowed.

"Rush?" Strongarm wondered.

"An inspiring name for an inspiring critter."

"Okay, while we were exploring the other side of the woods, what happened?" Sideswipe wanted to know.

"Well, we were starting to search after we split up-" Bee started.

"Wait, wait, wait, WAIT!" Fixit yelled, rushing forward with his pad. "Okay, Now tell us. Don't miss any of the juicy details."

Russell chuckled for that, while the team settled down to listen.


	6. Short 1 - Kitty Trail

The orange and white stray kitten Russell sometimes took care of walked by the woods, fiddling around with the leaves. As he heard someone by the woods, as the curious kitten he was, he immediately went to investigate that.

Clampdown tried to not make much noise, knowing the Autobots could find him and interrogate about Starscream or other runaways from the exploded ship.

"Okay, no Autobots around. I guess I can relax." The Chompazoid looked around and was about to sit down, when suddenly he heard a little meowing, which made him freak out and look around. Never seeing a cat before in his life, Clampdown stepped back

"W-w-what are you?! What are you going to do with me?!"

The kitty meowed again, stepping forward.

"No, no, no. Stay away." Clampdown said, snatching a twig with a leaf on it. The kitten then started to look at the leave and play with it.

Clampdown took the opportunity and stepped back, not noticing there was no ground to where he was walking backwards, and falling down. The noise startled the kitty, making it look around until spotting a huge hole. The Chompazoid looked up to it, and shivered as he sneaked away from the kitten, wondering where could that tunnel take him.

The kitten then heard the sound of engines and forgot about that hole, running to see what was that. Seeing so many different colored vehicles, he sneaked after them.


	7. Short 2 - Moral Wound

The Autobots walked by the woods, after Clampdown.

"When we catch him, Steeljaw has to start working on that special locking device, so no more Cons sneak out of their pods when we're distracted." Bee reminded.

"I was wondering… you know, about Starscream and all those Cons still around?" Strongarm thought. "If he's still on Earth, you think he will go after Clampdown and convince him to join them?"

"Knowing how chompazoid's claws are useful in many ways..."

"Yeah. And how coward he is. Trying to make deals to get off the hook." Sideswipe said. "Even after when he was in Steeljaw's…OUCH!" he yell when Strongarm hit him.

"No, no, no..." Grimlock whispered, then they all looked at the Wolficon.

"Steeljaw?" Bee asked, calling the Wolficon's attention. "You've been really quiet. Something wrong?"

"Uh? Oh, yes, I um… I-I'm okay." Steel said, rubbing his helm. "Look, Clampdown is not very good in hiding, but I guess we might have a better chance if we split up and search the area."

"What do you think, sir?" Strongarm asked.

"Well, he knows him better than us, maybe we should try." Bee agreed.

"I wanna go alone. If that's okay."

"You sure?" Sideswipe asked. "You against that weakling ex-member don't seem like a fair-OUCH!"

"Okay. Strongarm, Sideswipe, you search that direction. Grim, you go that way. Me and Drift search north. If anyone finds anything suspicious call the others." Bee nodded, as the team went to their searches, but not before Drift called his attention.

"I believe what is bothering Steeljaw is not exactly just the memories of his pack." He assured.

"Then… what is it?"

"Moral wounds have this peculiarity - they may be hidden, but they never close; always painful, always ready to bleed when touched, they remain fresh and open in the spark."

"You DID read that book I borrowed for you."

"Earth has fascinating literature. And I think you understood what I mean."

"Yes… I do… He needs time to heal himself, so we should give him some space, right?"

Drift agreed as they continued their search, and Steel's silhouette disappeared into the woods.


	8. Short 3 - Lone Wolf and Kit

Steeljaw looked around for a bit as he searched for Clampdown, and decided to stop for a moment, sitting down at the tree.

He looked up sadly, wrapping his own tail around his body. Drift was right: he still felt really wounded inside, despite all the acceptance that came after the past events.

Then suddenly, he heard something moving behind him and looked behind, then down to find the little kitty staring at him. The kitten looked curiously at him and meowed to him.

"Aw.. Hey, little one. What are you doing here so far away from the scrapyard?" Steeljaw leaned over to stare at the feline in front of him. The little kitty just meowed cutely something to him for an answer.

"Huh. You seem to like to go wander by yourself" Steeljaw smiled, and started to caress the feline, while it started to purr. "There is just something so wonderful in Earth felines."

Steeljaw passed some time playing with the kitten, using leaves and his own tail. That small critter somehow made him completely forget about his sadness for a moment. It actually made him think of the happy days playing with his big brother on Luna-4.

As it eventually got tired of playing and leaned over for a nap, Steeljaw's optics glowed as he tried containing his unusual squealing. Then he smelled something. A strange scent… followed by a familiar one...

Taking a quick decision, seeing there was a small road by the path he had to go, he changed to vehicle mode and carefully placed the kitten on his seats. He didn't even minded as it scratched it while turning around to continue his nap.

"It's best if you hang around me for a while, little one. Something tells me whatever I'll find, it can be dangerous for you." Steeljaw said. The little kitty just yawned silently and continued its napping. "Hnng… so adorable..." the Wolficon muttered.


	9. Short 4 - Lost is Found

Steeljaw drove the road until he stopped by a tree, seeing something moving inside a cave formation. The scents he felt before were stronger.

Transforming without waking the kitty, he placed it near the tree he stopped by and carefully got on all fours, in stealth mode to investigate.

He observed the cave's entrance quietly, hearing them the sound of steps coming forward, and a growl. A very familiar growl as much as the scent was.

"Clampdown, it's you, right?" Steeljaw called. "Come on out now. This is from your own good."

As he stepped forward, however, Steeljaw was certain something was not right: since when his optics glowed purple? "Clampdown?"

"You..." Clampdown growled again as he saw the Wolficon. Steel stepped back slowly, not knowing what was happening.

"Clampdown… what happened? What's with your optics?" Steeljaw asked before moving aside, when the metal grab almost charged at him.

"You!" Clampdown roared.

"O-okay, I know, you are not glad to see me, but it's not of your type to... y-you're usually...well, not like THAT." Steel tried to not look surprised and nervous. He also tried to find a way to hold him still.

Well, since words wouldn't work, he had no choice but to face his former comrade. Then, he looked back at the kitten, who was wide awake.

"Shoo, shoo. Get out of here quick!" The kitty looked confused, but luckily once it saw another leaf it started to follow it to elsewhere. "Yeah… that works too." Steeljaw commented before showing up his own claws, ready to fight.

* * *

Meanwhile, Bee and Drift were searching, until they got a call from fixit.

"Sir, a new signal has appeared… and it's not exactly a tracking device one." Bee saw it on his screen.

"No… can it be..."


	10. Short 5 - Inspiring

Steeljaw fought against the furious Clampdown. He mostly held back, because he knew Clampdown well enough to know that was not his usual self. He watched as the squirrels ran from their trees, thanks to their fight.

"For Primus's sake, Clampdown! Can't you ratiocinate now? This bickering will destroy the forest!" Clampdown didn't reply to that, and pushed him hard to a tree. "Ugh… again..."

Bumblebee and Drift's swords came to view, defending him against another attack of Clampdown. Drift lift him up with his swords, throwing him away.

"Are you okay?" Bee helped Steel up.

"There's something wrong with him." The wolficon affirmed. "I don't know what, but-"

"Oh, but I do." bee affirmed. "Dark Energon."

"What?!"

"Like Starscream said, there is still plenty of Unicron's blood running into the Earth's core. If Clampdown got access to this, it made him as you saw. Extremely and unusually aggressive and dangerous."

"...you have been through this, right?"

Bee's silence answered Steel's answer. Yes, he did. Then they heard a desperate meow, which Steeljaw recognized. Clampdown growled at the little critter, grabbing it by the tail. The little one started to meow in fear. Steeljaw growled, moving Bee and Drift aside.

"Hey! If you want to attack something, pick someone your own size!" He said and charged to to strike Clampdown, making him let go of the scared kitten. Drift launch Jetstorm to pick the little one away, while Steeljaw handled his former pack member.

"A little help?" Bee asked.

"Be my guest." Steel winked

In no time, thanks to Bee's weapon and Steeljaw's tail, Clampdown was launched and knocked out. Drift nodded and Jetstorm cheered, while the kitty meowed.

"Exceptional work, Steeljaw." Drift complimented.

"Thanks. I couldn't just let him treat this little one like that." Steeljaw affirmed, kneeling down. "Even if he was one of my previous comrades." The little kitty meowed and licked his claws, purring.

"Russell will sure be glad to see this stray again." Bee affirmed.

"Speaking of this, have he named him?"

"I don't think so. Why, you got one for him?"

"Maybe..." steeljaw picked the kitten up. "You are one inspiring little critter. You brought up the best of me today, and I can't thank you enough. Therefore, I must give you a very special name." He thought for a moment. "Would you like to be called...Rush?" The little one meowed as if saying _yay._

"Okay, you all, let's call the team back." Bee said, while Drift's Mini-cons held Clampdown's unconscious body.

"It is your brother's name, correct?" Drift asked.

"An inspiring name for an inspiring friend." Steeljaw affirmed, nodding, as they left back to the scrapyard. The little kitty meowed on his claws. Meanwhile, no one didn't took notice that dark energon moved away from him without any trace.


	11. Steel's Sciamachy

The darkness of the night was imminent. Steeljaw ran by the woods, panting and visibly scared. He stopped for a moment to take his breath.

"You cannot escape from what you are..." a deepened, distorted voice said, startling him. The shadows of the trees started to move right to him, and joined. From their combining, a silhouette emerged, and Steeljaw gasped as it charged against him.

Steeljaw shot up awake, yelping. As he transformed back to robot mode, he panted, looking to his sides. Drift was still charging in vehicle mode, and all of the team was in fact recharging as well. the wolficon looked down, his ears low as he whimpered a bit.

* * *

The next day, Steeljaw's optics were irrecognizable: full of purple circles. He in fact looked more tired than Bee trying to figure out a catch phrase once.

Jetstorm and Slipstream, who were sparring against each other, looked over to see their "brother" in that state.

"Steeljaw, you do not look good."

"H-Huh? Oh, right..." Steeljaw said, not being able to focus at all. He yawned softly. "Sorry… I haven't recharged properly last night."

"Again? It has passed an Earth Week now." Jetstorm showed visible worrying.

"Let me guess… those nightmares again?" Drift stepped forward.

"Yes… A week..." Steeljaw sighed, and he tripped on his own tail. Shameful sign for a wolficon, honestly. "They have become more intense. I don't know how to stop it."

"Master, I believe Steeljaw should practice something simple for today. He is not in conditions of casual training." Jetstorm pointed out.

"Just what I thought as well, Jetstorm." Drift nodded. The black Min-con held Steel's hand and they both walked away to another corner, Steeljaw's tail bumping on scrapyard stuff.

"Wow… he looks terrible." Bumblebee stepped forward.

"Master, if this keeps going, it could affect his senses and health in all contexts." Slipstream said.

"I beleive the side effects are already showing up.' Drift sighed.

"Everyone needs a good recharge, or as humans say, a good night of sleep." Bumblebee pointed out. "It's one of the essential things for life itself."

"But what can we do?"

"That is the point. We can't." Drift said. "It's something he must handle by himself."

"I guess this is already not working." Bee pointed out. He watched as Steeljaw's tail bumped into one of Denny's squirrel statues, and Jetstorm comforted him.

* * *

"I can't bare seeing Steel like that, Optimus." Bee talked with the Prime through the command center by sunset. "We have grown to become closer, as brothers. I want to help him, he needs this."

"I understand your concern, Bumblebee." Optimus replied. "But Drift has a point. There is possibly something within Steeljaw's mind that he must face by himself."

"But that doesn't mean he can't get some help..." Bee thought. "Say… the Decepticon Hunters have tremendous power for battle and defense. All limited to imagination. You think they can allow a Bot to… infiltrate dreams?"

"Hm… this is possible… however, I must point out you can run a serious risk with it." Optimus said.

"No big news." Bee chuckled. "He needs my help."

"Do as you must, if you wish… but I still advert you: some things are beyond your or my help." Optimus said before he ended the call. Bee looked over to a concerned Steeljaw, which tail was being hugged by Jetstorm as a fluffy blanket.

"Wow, they really grew to like each other..." Bee commented. then, he looked to his Decepticon Hunter. "no doubts left."

* * *

As the night finally came, everyone was recharging, or in Denny's and Russell's case, sleeping. Bumblebee prepared to enter Steeljaw's mind, concentrating with his Decepticon Hunter. As the weapon glowed, it changed into some kind of neural cable, attaching itself to Bee's forehead and Steel's helm.

Inside Steeljaw's dream world, Bumblebee looked around. That place… looked so much like the images of Luna-4 Steeljaw showed.

"Wow..." Bee looked around. It all seemed so pacific. Then, the scenery started to get dark and from the distance, he heard Steeljaw's voice.

"Leave me alone!"

Bumblebee went to the direction where he heard it coming. there was Steeljaw, his arms caught by the shadow figure in front of him. Bee immediately moved forward and attacked it with his gun.

"Bumblebee?" Steeljaw was surprised of seeing him there. As the creature was distracted, Bee helped Steel get up. "What are you doing here?"

"Talk later. I'll handle this." bee warned, as he turned to the shadow figure. It growled to him, and he started to shoot again.

"You cannot change who you are..."The monster started moving back and ran away, with a distorted howl.

"Wow… thank you, Bumblebee." Steel said, relieved.

"I'll always be there for my team, especially for you," Bee assured with a smile. then, he started to fade.

"Bumblebee?"

"Don't worry, I'll see you when you wake up." He said, before disappearing, leaving Steeljaw alone.

* * *

The next day, bee yawned, rubbing his optics. then, he saw Steeljaw back to practicing.

"Looks like you recharged well, Steel." Slipstream said.

"I did. I thought I was going to spent another night wide awake, but this time, something happened." Steeljaw pointed out. "somehow, Bumblebee was in my dream and he saved me from that thing i told you before."

"Like I said, I'll always be there for the team.' Bee stepped forward.

"Wait, you… you actually entered my dream?!"

"Well, I-uh..." Bee was saying, fearing he might have done something wrong. But then, he was surprised by one of the wolficon's lifting hugs.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Steeljaw said, happily. Bee then made sure that squeezing was hurting a bit, making Steel let go of him slowly. "Heh, sorry. I don't know my own strength sometimes."

"It's okay. so does Grim." Bee panted. "I'm just glad I could help you feel better. I mean, I know I'm not exactly your brother Rush, but I-"

"You really are the kind that fights for your family. This I have to admire." Steeljaw said. then, his smile disappeared.

"You okay?" Jetstorm asked.

"A little. I recharged well last night, but what if it returns?"

"Since you're well rested,, maybe you can work on some strategies for the dream world. Then I'll just come over to help you again."

"Not a bad idea." Steeljaw agreed. Drift, who has been observing the conversation, sighed. He just hoped this wouldn't cause more trouble.

* * *

As the nights passed, in fact, Steeljaw kept having those nightmares. And each time Bumblebee had entered to fight against the shadow figure and help Steeljaw. Thanks to this, the wolficon had the best resting nights in weeks… but Bumblebee started to grow tired for his own obligations as team leader, like assisting in training or patrolling. Others had started to notice it and get worried.

After a week of restless dream battles, Bumblebee remained in his vehicle form for a while.

"Bumblebee?" Steeljaw tapped his vehicle mode gently. "You missed patrolling again. Strongarm was worried." As he changed to robot mode, Steeljaw saw Bee's face: his optics were more blurry-eyes than his before.

"I think you have a problem with shadows." Bee growled.

"I don't have a problem with-"

"I'm sure you have!" Bee scolded, Steel surprised. Then the team leader yawned. "Sorry… I'm just… so tired. I've been spending all these nights helping you, but-"

"Oh, this is all my fault. If I knew this was going to happen I wouldn't allow you to continue."

"But I'm helping you recharge better. i-It's not a big deal."

"Of course it is! I don't wanna do this if it means preventing you from recharging!" Steeljaw preplied. "You think I wanna make you go through what I passed?"

"As you see, I was right." Drift said coming forward. "This nightmare of yours can't be stopped by just fighting against this thing you fear so much."

"And how are you sure I can deal with that?" Steeljaw asked.

"As a former Con, I have had passed through Sciamachies as well."

"Sciamachies?" Jetstorm asked.

"It means fighting imaginary enemies, or you own shadow." bee explained, rubbing his optics.

"Precisely. Facing inner demons is essential for any of us to move on. Especially in Former criminals cases."

"IT's… more powerful than before. I've been having these nightmares ever since I joined the team. First I could control the dream abilities and defeat it, make it go away by myself, but… for some reason, now everytime I try facing it by myself, it doesn't work. I end up running out of options, and none of my plans are functional, it's like…" Steeljaw whimpered.

"now, now." Drift calmed him down. Jetstorm and Slipstream looked over. "Try to calm down."

"I just wanted to help him… but I guess I only made things worse..." Bee pouted.

"Perhaps then it's time for another intervention." Drift decided, looking at them both.

* * *

In nightfall, while the others went to their own recharges. Bumblebee and Drift were prepared to enter Steeljaw's dreams together.

"Okay, this must be the last time we used the procediment. The focus now is no longer defeat the "thing", but to find its reason to exist within Steeljaw's mind." Drift said. Bumblebee agreed, with a silent nod.

* * *

Once inside the dream, things already looked really dark. Maybe even darker than any of the times Bee entered before.

"I don't like this." Bumblebee said. "Sure, the skies within his mind were getting a bit dark each night, but I thought that was only temporary."

Right then, they heard noises which were getting near them. Right then, all of a sudden, shadows emerged all around them, diving as sea waves, trying to sink them into a seemingly bottomless pit of darkness.

"We need to get out of their reach!" Drift said.

"NO! Leave me alone, please!" Steeljaw's despair was heard then out of somewhere.

"We need to find him!"Bumblebee said and moved away from this spot, only to have his leg emerged by shadows again.

"NO! I'm not like this anymore!" Steel's voice was… coming FROM the shadows?

"I believe you are thinking the same I am." Drift nodded. Then both dove deep inside the shadow sea around them.

Drift and Bee's lights kept them from getting lost, while searching from Steeljaw. Everything was so dark and thicker than water.

"STAY AWAY! STOP!" Steeljaw's begging was as desperate to hear for Bee as it was unusual.

"You can't get rid off me so easily…" They heard the distorted voice again. "You cannot change who you are like this..."

With this, Bee was sure Steeljaw was closer than they thought. Soon, they both were feeling a bit more lighter, the thickness of the shadow sea they dove into disappearing. As they landed on the ground, they saw Steeljaw on a corner, panting.

"Steel!" Bumblebee yelled and tried to get to him, as he lift up his face soaked with lubricant tears. But then something rose from the ground, and grabbed Bee's legs.

"Stay out of this!" The distorted voice growled, showing its monstrous form again. Drift paid attention on what was going on.

"Bumblebee!" Steeljaw gasped. Bee tried to get loose, but the shadow was too thick. He felt stuck to those vines as a bug on a spider web.

"You cannot change who you are." It stared back at Steeljaw. Drift took the opportunity and charged, but the shadows were quicker, surrounding all his possible routes and trapping his arms and legs, making him let go of the sword. They both were trapped now, leaving Steeljaw having to face that thing alone.

"No! Bumblebee! Drift! Oh, no… you're in trouble again because of me!" Steel closed his optics. The monster growled in response and its shape amplified, covering the scenery in some darkness.

"Hey… it got bigger when he said that..." Bee noticed before his optics were covered.

"Steeljaw, his creature is not a simple nightmare thing." Drift struggled to free himself. "It is growing stronger because of your most repressed feelings. Your pain, your sadness… your guilt."

Steeljaw's optics widened in realization.

"You are hating yourself for some reason, and it's feeding out of this, causing all these endless nightmares." Bee struggled to free himself. "But why, Steeljaw? Why are you hating yourself so much?"

"How… how can I not hate myself!? I was a horrible Decepticon, and caused pain to all life! Even though I am now a Bot and a member of a new team, I feel I will NEVER forget the horror I caused, and never will get rid of the monster I was!" Steel clenched his fists and his optics in anger and sadness. The beast growled even more, its darkness amplifying.

"Steeljaw, listen." Drift said. "I do understand. It is true you cannot get rid of the past, but that does not mean you have to forget it. Your past as a con, as painful as it is now, has to be remembered. It will hurt, but the pain will subside as you forgive your actions." Steeljaw looked over to Drift and then to his own servos. "Perhaps that is what the "thing" has been trying to tell you. you cannot change the past you live and get rid of the pain you suffered. It is part of who you are… but unless you forgive yourself, it will be seen forever as a bad thing."

Drift then felt all the shadow's activity slowing down, and so did Bee. Getting rid of the shadow vines around his body was easier now. Steeljaw looked at the scenery around him, at his friends… and at his own hands.

With a decided stare, he took a deep breath and exhaled. Soon enough, his own strength seemed to be returning, as he stood up and his optics glowed, as in his nocturnal mode. Stepping forward to face the beast that has tormented him for too long, he lift up his claws. Bee feared for him, but Drift signalized for him to not intervene.

Then, they watched as Steeljaw was engulfed by the shadows, and the darkness around the scenery ceased less and less. Drift and Bee watched as the scenery returned to normal, and looked over to see Steeljaw keeling down as the shadows returned to an only shadow: his own.

Steeljaw then looked up to see… his younger version. The start of his suffering represented there in front of him, sobbing silently. The Wolficon then moved close to his younger self, who just stared at him, optics leaking.

"...I'm sorry." It was all Steeljaw could say before gently cradling his younger self in a hug. The younger Wolficon shivered a bit before leaning on his chest, and vanishing in white light sparkles.

Bumblebee and Drift just stood there, relieved that Steel's nightmare has finally ended. Steel then looked up to them, and smiled.

* * *

By the next day, the Mini-cons, including fixit, played soccer with the wolficon, who really looked better now.

"Hey, where is Drift?" Strongarm walked over. "I thought you had training today."

"He suspended our training. Let's just say he needed some well-deserved rest." Slipstream replied. Then, Jetstorm kicked the ball again, and they returned to their game. Bumblebee then stepped forward with a tired yawn.

"Hello there, lieutenant." Strongarm said. "You look tired. Although not as much as yesterday."

"Yeah, I had something to do, and something to learn from it." Bee wiped his optics. "So, have to seen St-" His speech was cut when he saw Steeljaw. Seeing him like this, without any more worries, feeling okay, made him feel happy. "Nevermind." With this, he yawned. "Look, uh, Cadet, can you take over patrol again? I guess I need some rest."

The cadet agreed, although not understanding exactly what happened, while her superior officer left to rest.


	12. An Autobot Carol

**Note: SORRY for the late update. Also, the original A Christmas Carol belongs rightfully to Charles Dickens.**

* * *

Everyone was helping Denny and Russell setting things on the scrapyard for christmas. Snow fell from the sky, and Steeljaw observed as one snowflake landed on his muzzle. Denny and Russell guided the Autobots on everything, except with baking, since the bots didn't eat what they did.

"Why are there so many things to do here?" Sideswipe complained.

"It's always like this during Christmas. How can you guys not know?"

"We never celebrated Christmas." Drift pointed out. "AllSpark Day is the closest we get of a celebrational holiday."

"That's sad." Russell pointed out. "Well, since it's the first time you guys get to enjoy it, I think you should at least know the basics."

"Like the figure called Santa Claus that invades properties, giving things and spoiling the young members of your kind?" Strongarm pointed out.

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing." The boy pointed out. "Besides, it's not only about this."

"What Russell means is that this time of year is a special date to celebrate with those we care about." Denny pointed out.

"That sounds actually fun." Steeljaw pointed out. "A time of gathering with the ones you care for."

"Finally a happy smile in the middle of a bunch of gloomy faces." Grimlock pointed out, Christmas garlands all over his tail. "What do you think?"

"Grim, the garlands go at the entrance door, not at your tail." Bee chuckled, but he allowed him to keep one anyway.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but I just don't- *sigh* We shouldn't be searching for the Mini-cons or for any of the cons Starscream worked with?" the cadet complained. "I just don't see the point of celebrating today if there's nothing for us to do this."

"Yeah… I guess I'm just gonna go over there." Sideswipe walked away, seeing Strongarm pouting and turning on her rule book. Drift just sat down to meditate.

"Wow… some bots are not in the mood for the holidays." Denny assured.

"Yeah… but luckily I know something perfect for this." Bee said, before rushing somewhere, asking Russell to follow him.

* * *

Soon, all the team sat nearby the command center, the scenario all decorated with light strings. Russell had a spot already with a book. All the others were unsure about what was going on, except Bee and Denny.

"Okay, I brought warmed-up Energon for you all." Fixit arrived with a pile of Energon cubes.

"Thanks, Fixit. this will be perfect." Bee greeted. "So, everyone settled up?"

"Yes, sir, but… what are you up to?" Strongarm asked.

"Well, I know you have a point, cadet; we have much to do in the Starscream subject, and the past days haven't been of much luck, but this holiday is one I really would like you all to enjoy." Bee pointed out. "Since most of you never got to understand it, I gathered something that might help you at least get to know it a bit better."

"Sir, I am already pretty familiar with the concepts of home invasion, fake stereotypies and material gain. I don't have anything else to know about this holiday."

"Strongarm!" Russell pouted.

"Look, cadet, I know you'd rather be learning something, but trust me on this… you WILL. So try keeping your specifications at minimum, okay?" Bee pointed out. Strongarm sighed loudly and Sideswipe looked over at her grumpy face.

"Well, one good thing this Earth holiday brought." He joked. Jetstorm settled himself close to Drift and Steeljaw, and Slipstream picked up an Energon cube.

"Okay… it all started in a very cold Christmas Eve..." Bee opened the book.

* * *

 _The meanest man in a very faraway London village, Ebenezer Scrooge, arrived at his working place, after a long walk in the freezing weather._

In a snowy cybertronian corner, Ebenezer (Ratchet) entered a working station, where his worker Bob Cratchit (Bumblebee) wrote all he had to.

"So, um… how was your walk, Mr. Scrooge?"

"It's cold out there, Cratchit! I hope you haven't stopped writing for nonsense."

"Oh, no, sir." Cratchit promised. "I've just stopped to light up the candles. It's getting dark."

"Hope you haven't lighted all of them! It's a waste of money here." Scrooge grumbled and sat on his desk.

"Hey, Uncle Scrooge!" Fred (Smokescreen), Scrooge's nephew burst into the room, a garland on his hands. "Hi, Bob!"

"Fred!" Bob smiled. "Judging by the garland, you're almost ready for the christmas Eve party later, huh?"

"You bet, and i would like to invite you, your family and you, Mr. Scrooge to join the celebration."

"Ugh, more waste of time!" Scrooge grumbled. "Fred, I told you every single year I don't join in these foolish events when there is more important things to do."

"Uncle Scrooge, please. If you just accepted my invitations once, I think everyone wouldn't think so bad of you all the time;."

"Bah, humbug! Let them think whatever they want." Scrooge pouted. "I am not going and that's final!" Fred lowered his head and sighed.

"I can go help you if you want. I-it's time to close already." Bob pointed out,. "Good night and M-merry christmas, Mr. Scroo-"

"See you. Tomorrow." Scrooge grunted and turned around, as the two lads left.

"Every year it's the same thing." Fred complained. "Why can't Uncle Scrooge just join us for one dinner?"

"Well, you can't change the people's choice." Bob pointed out. "I guess this means I can't join you on the celebration, buddy."

"YEah, I guess..." Fred thought for a moment. "Look, I have to go now but don't worry. Christmas will be great for you!" He assured as he left. Bob smiled at his friend's optimism.

* * *

After closing up the office, Ebenezer Scrooge headed upstairs. It was already dark, when he got there. He set up a code to open the door and laid on his berth.

"Ebenezer..." A whisper then woke him up.

"Hello?" Scrooge looked over around his dark room. Nothing present, but silence. He thought perhaps he was imagining things...

"Ebenezer..." The repetition of his name erased the last assumption, and the sounds of chains were heard. He stood up and turned on his headlights, to try finding the source of those strange sounds.

All of a sudden then, a glowing figure that seemingly appeared out of nowhere startled him.

"Ebenezer Scrooge… my old friend." It was a tall, spectral figure (Optimus Prime) wearing along with a ripped robe, many chains around his body..

"Marley? But… how? Y-You're dead..." Ebenezer stepped back.

"Yes. However, you might have noticed the sounds i made while trying to reach for you." Marley nodded. "Sound of the chains I have to carry for eternity due to my greed and the horrors I caused in my life."

"T-this must be a nightmare!"

"It is far too real, Ebenezer. Now listen closely what I have to tell you." Marley stared firmly at him and saw him pointing at the watch on the wall. "This very night, you will be visited by three groups of spirits. Listen closely what they have to say till the strokes of midnight ring or the consequences shall be heavier than my own chains..."

With this, Ebenezer heard and saw the spectre of his former partner vanish slowly and found himself alone again in his room.

Scrooge was confused. Was that a dream or reality? Anyway he was glad that was over. He turned down his headlights and the darkness returned… for a short moment.

For two small sparks of light entered the room through the window and bounced all over the room until they landed on the floor forcefully. Scrooge took the chance and knelt down to see what was that exactly.

Two small identical spectres (Fixit and Toolbox), wearing white coats, or more like blankets on them.

"Be careful, cousin!"

"Sorry, I'm just not used to this-this-this-" The bot repeated that word until his cousin hit his head to get back on track. "-this wind change! It's hard to travel without wings."

They both turned around and spot Ebenezer Scrooge.

"Who-who are you? And why are you here?!"

"We are the Spirits of Christmas Past. I think your old associate might have mentioned we would come." One of the spirits explained.

"We came here to help you see something. Something you probably haven't seen in years."

"Humbug! There's nothing I need to see."

"I beg to differ, Mr. Scrooge. We have a long night so you better be prepared." The other spirit pointed out. Then, the wind came from the window started to drag them.

"The winds are changing now. This means our journey will start."

"Follow us, Mr. Scrooge! F-f-f-f-follow us!"

Scrooge's effort on holding to his berth was useless, for the wind carried him as if he was a feather. Scrooge and the spirits traveled in the wind, seeing the town beneath them. No one didn't notice them, while wind took them far far away.

* * *

After a really fast ride, the wind stopped and landed all three on the ground.

"This place...it looks familiar." Ebenezer said.

"Well, no wonder, this is your old Academy." One of the spirits said. Then, the three peeked from the window, were young Bots were working in their desk.

"But… that's me."

"Yes, when you were young."

"Back when you thought what to give others when the first snow came."

Ebenezer Scrooge notice that it was true. His younger self was already making the list of what to give to the other students. And it sure was a big list.

Right then, an older bot (Drift) came in. He was surprised to find him on his desk while the others haven't arrived yet.

"Ebenezer, how… when did you?"

"Pardon me, sir. I want to came early to make my list."

"A list?"

"Of what to give others. It's Christmas soon."

His mentor looked disappointed when he heard that and sigh.

"Ebenezer, I appreciate that you come here early than others, but I would rather having you learning something than wasting time with lists."

"But…"

"There will be time for that later. But right now I want you to use your time wisely. As in for studying."

Young Ebenezer looked down while he put his list away. Just then, a femme (Arcee) came in while the teacher left and she noticed Ebenezer's gloom.

"Don't mind my uncle. He's just not in the mood for sharing."

"Isabelle… My first love." Scrooge recognized that beautiful femme.

"Oh, I-Isa, y-your name's the first on the list." Scrooge said, standing up and rushing with a small package. "T-there you go. I took a while to join money to get it, b-but I hope you like it."

"Oh, Ebenezer, thank you." she said and seeing they were standing under the mistletoe, gave him a kiss on his cheek.

"Those were the greatest times of my life." Ebenezer admitted.

"Until your love for something else became stronger than what you felt for her."

The wind blow covering the scene for awhile and they stood front of Ebenezer's work station. All three looked from the window and saw there a bit grown Scrooge and Isabelle. But something felt out of the mood. It felt so...gloom.

"Ebenezer… Are you here?" She stepped closer to his table.

"Who is there?"

"It's me." Isabelle said. "I'm still renting that special place for our honeymoon. When will our marriage will happen? I'm still awaiting for your answer."

"I fear it would cost me much to join you in these travels. I can't go, Isabelle."

"But Ebenezer…"

"I said NO. Now leave me alone!"

With this she felt her spark breaking and left without saying a word. It started to rain outside.

It didn't effect on the real Ebenezer Scrooge and the spirits who saw it all though.

"You chose this path, Scrooge. And lost the woman you've cherished so much."

"A sad event that y-y-y-y-you brought up yourself."

"I-I-I can't bare seeing this anymore, spirits... p-please let's just leave." Scrooge looked away… and as the scenery vanished, he saw himself on his room, again. He looked around and find that everything looked normal. Was it just a dream? Well, he didn't have time to decide, when the window opened up again.

This time however, instead of two sparks of light, two bigger figures came in landed on the floor, one with a hard thud. Two bots, one green covered in a green-colored robe (Boulder), the other in an orange-colored robe (Blades).

"I hope we're in the right house."

"I'm just glad we're on the floor again. I don't like these fast flying trips."

"Oh, great." Ebenezer sighed, seeing that wasn't a dream after all.

"Oh, greetings. You must be Ebenezer Scrooge. We're the Ghosts of Christmas Present."

"Ghosts!? Where?"

"Uh… we are?"

"Oh, right. We are." the orange-clothed spirit remembered. "But… I rather be called spirit."

"Now, Ebenezer Scrooge. We like to show you something."

"No wind travels, please. Let's just walk this time." The orange-robed one asked. "Come on, put on your coat and follow us."

* * *

As they walked outside, the three observed the cheer around the streets. Bots walked everywhere smiling and cheering. Everything looked so peaceful and nice. Even Ebenezer felt calmer seeing all the smiles.

"And here we are."

"This old house?"

"This old house you call is your worker's lair."

They looked inside: there was Bob Cratchit, and his son (Slipstream) and daughter (Strongarm).

"Dinner's almost ready, kids." He said, picking up two-half-filled Energon cubes.

"I'm glad we at least have dinner." His daugher sighed.

"I didn't even knew he had a family."

"I wonder why." The orange spirit pointed out.

"And look who's coming over." The green-robed spirit said, pointing at the front door. There was Fred, followed by some of his friends. He knocked the door and Bob went open it.

"Fred? W-what are you-"

"Well, since you couldn't go to the party, we decided the party should come to you! Let's get it, everybody!"

Other bots came in bringing the goods inside. It didn't take long before the table was full with delightful food and everyone took their seat.

"But why Fred would do such a thing?" Scrooge asked himself.

"Friendship. Kindness. Maybe the slightest care."

"Dinner is served!" Fred announced, and the bots all gathered around to eat.

"Thank you for moving the party here, Fred." Bob pointed out. "That's really nice of you."

"It's the least I could do since you-know-who wants to see you at the office tomorrow.." Fred assured. "but hey, w-where's your other boy?"

"He's upstairs." Bob said. "Come on, Tim. Come join the party."

Tim (Jetstorm) stepped forward with his crutch, being lifted up by his father and placed on a seat at the table nearby his siblings. He started to cough a bit and Fred looked at Bob with a worried expression.

"So… um, Tim, would you like to make this night's first toast?" The boy's father asked.

"Oh… yes, sure. I would like to make toast to all of you." Tim said. "And for Mr. Scrooge."

The crowd was surprised by the boy's request. A toast for the meanest man in town?

"I mean… I know we don't like the way Mr. Scrooge treats us at all, but… maybe there is something good on him… or daddy wouldn't be able to stay here with us to celebrate." Tim pointed out. The crowd went "awww" at the child's innocence. "So… yes, I want to make a toast to mr. Scrooge."

"Cheers." Bob smiled at him and touched his Energon cup with his own.

"Spirits… that young boy..." Scrooge sure wasn't expecting that. "W-what is wrong with this kind soul?"

"A lot more than you might imagine," The green-robed spirit sighed.

"If the situation doesn't change… Oh, it hurts just to think of it..." The orange-bot sniffled. Ebenezer saw the spirit's worried expression and looked back at the coughing child, who received a drink and some more food on his plate.

His spark hurt. As it never did before. Then, the sound of midnight rang. Once more, it was time for the spirits to go.

"Guess our job for now is done." The green-dressed spirit nodded, as him and his friend started to vanish.

"Wait! D-don't go!" Ebenezer pleaded. "Y-you have to tell me what happens next!"

"I guess that's not exactly our job..." The orange spirit pointed out as he vanished too.

* * *

"...but it's our friend's, so, listen to him, okay?" Bumblebee read the dialogue in his Blades voice, and then noticed the team looking at him, Sideswipe and Grim snickering. "I was doing my Blades' voice, right?" Grim's laugh almost escaping and Steel's awkward nodding was the answer he needed. "Ugh… I need to stop doing this."

"So… what happens now?" Jetstorm asked.

"Well… Ebenezer watched as-" Bee continued until he was cut short by fixit.

"Sorry, sir, I'll get a refill no our drinks and I'll be right back." Fixit said and left in a hurry.

"Okay… Just hurry up, Fixit. I'm almost at the best part."

* * *

Fixit finished filling up everyone's cubes.

"Okay, go on, sir." Fixit assured, and Bee chuckled rolling his optics.

* * *

 _Ebenezer watched as the spirits of Christmas present disappeared and just as the lights turned off, he felt a cold blizzard._

Ebenezer rubbed his servos. When did it got THAT cold? And then, he found himself beneath two dark figures, both cloaked up.

"Let me guess… the Spirits of Christmas Future?"

One of them nods while another one opened a portal. The other pointed to the portal, as if telling saying Ebenezer to go through it.

"I guess I no longer can fear anything else..." Ebenezer said and as he crossed the portal, he saw the sudden cheer of Christmas present really wasn't there in the future. All seemed gloomy and frightening. Ebenezer found himself in an empty building and the Spirits behind him.

"Where are we?" Ebenezer asked.

Then a maid (Airachnid) and a butler (Knockout) carried some things, meeting a fence (Thunderhoof) on that building.

"Ey-yo brought somethin' worth it to Ol' Joe? What the ol' cog left?"

"I brought some of his finest curtains."

"Here are some of his silverware."

"Well, they are worth somethin'."

"I say, there is not a single soul attempting his funeral."

"I would go… if they offered food." The maid pointed out.

Ebenezer remained confused on what was going on, until the scenery changed. They were in a graveyard filled with crypts, with small holograms of the fallen people on top of them.

The spirits pointed on one direction, where Bob and his two other children stood in front of a coffin-like crypt. Fred came to them, tapping his friend on the back and watching him place his son`s crutch on the gravestone. Scrooge watched in pain as Bob struggled to not cry.

"No! I-I never wanted this to happen!" The old man feared. "Please, t-tell me this can change! Any of you!"

Without saying a word the Spirits pointed out to another direction, where two cryptkeepers (Airazor and Divebomb) prepared another crypt.

"Never saw a funeral like this before. Nobody's here to mourn this guy."

"Maybe he didn't had much friends." They left for lunch, and the spirits and Scrooge stepped forward.

"Is this that unspoken man's grave?"

One of the spirits illuminated the crypt revealing the name in gravestone. "Ebenezer Scrooge".

"No…"

"Yes, Ebenezer Scrooge… the grave is yours!" One of the spirits said, before pushing him into it. The spirits (Soundwave and Starscream) uncovered their faces and watched as Scrooge looked down at the fiery pit. "The loneliest of graves for the meanest of man!"

Ebenezer kept falling down and down fearing that this was his end, until he opened his eyes and found himself in his room. He then looked at the window, seeing it was already morning.

"I'm here! T-there's still time!" Ebenezer knew exactly what he had to do.

* * *

Bob and Fred cleaned up Cratchit`s house, after the party yesterday and smiled at the children asleep at the nearest berth, snuggling.

"I guess I should be going to the office."

Then there was knocks on the door and Bob went open it.

"Mr. Scrooge? I was going to…"

"You're not going anywhere!" Scrooge said, sternly closing the door. Then, his expression changed. "I mean, not before I give you this."

"It's your old partner's business card."

"Your card now, Bob. I'm giving you not only a raise but making you my partner."

"Uncle Scrooge, that's really cool!" Fred smiled.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Scrooge."

"And for you kids..." Mr. Scrooge said and things from the pack he was carrying.

"Whoa! Look at all these toys!" Bob's son said.

"And these books!" His daughter cheered.

"A new crutch!'

"And a teddy bear for you, Tiny Tim."

"I knew you were good inside, Mr. Scrooge." Tiny Tim hugged his leg. Ebenezer chuckled.

"Thank you, my boy. And Merry Christmas."

"And may God bless us all!" Tim cheered.

 _And since then, Ebenezer made the best efforts to become the jolliest and happiest on man in the village. For he had finally understood the true spirit of Christmas time._

* * *

"And that's it." Bee closed up the book.

"Wow…." Grimlock said.

"That was… actually pretty cool. Most stories we hear on cybertron end up with space monsters eating bots." Sideswipe reminded.

"A gratifying tale, I must admit." Drift nodded. Jetstorm wiped a lubricant tear and Slipstream smiled.

"That was a great story, Bumblebee." Steeljaw pointed out. "Hey, but where' s Strongarm?"

"I saw her going somewhere during that part of the future spirits." Grim pointed out.

Bumblebee and Steeljaw went looking for her and found her sitting under the tree the team had finished setting up. As if she was working on something.

"Cadet?"

"You know, that story was… pretty resembling. I'm sorry for being-"

"Rude? Incomprehensive? Scrooge-y?" Steeljaw teased a bit.

"...I deserved that."

"It's okay, Strongarm. It's never too late to make a change. Even the smallest bit of comprehension can make a difference." Bee assured, looking at Steeljaw, and throwing him a Christmas hat.

"Which is why I wanted to give you… this." she said and gave him a small gift box.

Bee took it and started to open it. Inside there was a small picture frame of the team, decorated with small Energon crystals.

"I know it's not good looking, but it's just because I managed to make it in just a few…"

"It's great."

"Really?"

"One thing I learned from here from this holiday, is that when people give gifts what Really matters is the thought" Bee assured. "And you, Strongarm, might have had the best of thoughts."

"Thank you, sir."

The others joined by their side, and Denny and Russell turned on the Christmas lights. Grimlock was already getting more decorations, but the light startled him and made him drop them all over his Dinobot body.

"A Christmas Dinosaur? Best. Holiday. Ever." Russell chuckled. The others chuckled for that.

"Merry Christmas, everyone!" Bee said.

"And may Primus bless us all!" Jetstorm, on Steeljaw's shoulder said. They all kept celebrating the holiday, as more snow fell from the sky.


End file.
